Current MCN Trainees
Beatriz Carmona
Predoctoral Trainee
MCN Research Focus: Developing a Maternal Self-Care Scale
Beatriz Carmona is a second year Ph.D. Student in Community Nutrition working with Dr. Laura Bellows in the Health Behaviors Lab, as well as one of the MCN trainees this year. She finished her undergraduate degree in Nutrition/Dietetics at Auburn University in Alabama in May of 2021 and joined the Division of Nutritional Sciences that fall. She’s lived and worked in a number of different places across the US and Mexico that have all shaped her interests toward public health nutrition, and she is grateful to be able to continue cultivating these interests at Cornell. Outside of the lab, Beatriz enjoys making small crafts and exploring Ithaca’s many surrounding trails.
Faith Carter
Predoctoral Trainee
MCN Research Focus: Impact of Weight Loss on Ovarian Function in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).
Faith is originally from North Carolina where she received her BS in Chemistry at UNC Wilmington. Currently, she is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Human Nutrition working with Dr. Marla Lujan. In the Lujan lab, Faith is assessing the impact of a weight loss intervention on follicle dynamics in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. She uses her knowledge in reproductive physiology to progress science communication in women’s health. In her free time, Faith enjoys reading, being creative, and spending time with her dog.
Camille Jones
Predoctoral Trainee
MCN Research Focus: the role of vitamin A in the context of maternal and child health, from preconception through lactation and early childhood
Camille joined the Division of Nutritional Sciences as a Dean’s Excellence Graduate Fellow, then became a Trainee with the National Institute of Health in Maternal and Child Nutrition in 2018. Before attending Cornell University, she earned a Bachelor of Science from Howard University with a major in biology and minors in chemistry and business administration. She earned a Masters in Public Health from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine while working as a Masters International Peace Corps Volunteer in Mochudi and Gaborone, Botswana. Continuing her Peace Corps service with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Camille pioneered program design in supply chain management, working with local health professionals to provide antiretroviral medications and health commodities to patients throughout the country. As a result of her time working in communities, Camille became increasingly interested in investigating the determinants of maternal and child health outcomes, and sought avenues to take an epidemiological approach to investigate relationships between nutrition and disease. Her dissertation research has been nested within a parent feeding trial in South India (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02648893). She is passionate about reproductive health justice, and currently serves as a Global Racial Justice Graduate Fellow with the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Camille defended her dissertation in March 2023, and plans to join the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beginning July 1, 2023.
Samantha Huey
Postdoctoral Trainee
MCN Research Focus: nutritional status, microbiome and immune function
Dr. Samantha Huey received her B.S. in Biology with minors in Nutrition & Global Diseases from Cedar Crest College (Allentown, PA) in 2013, and her PhD in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University in 2020, concentrating in International Nutrition with minors in Epidemiology and Immunology & Infectious Diseases (committee chair: Saurabh Mehta). During her graduate work with MRG, Sam spent several semesters and summers in the urban slums of Mumbai, India to prepare for and coordinate the iron-biofortified pearl millet trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02233764). Her dissertation focused on determinants of nutritional status, the gut microbiota, and immune response to measles in children participating in this trial.
Dr. Huey is a Postdoctoral Associate and Maternal and Child Nutrition Research Fellow at Cornell University and continues to examine the Mumbai trial data, focusing on nutritional status, microbiome and immune function, as well as conducting literature reviews. Dr. Huey focuses on conducting systematic and narrative literature reviews to synthesize evidence on vitamin A and HIV, vitamin D and stunting, and diet and the gut microbiome.