Dr. Mary Beth Weber
Mary Beth Weber, PhD, MPH is Associate Professor of Global Health and faculty in the Nutrition and Health Sciences Program. After completing her MPH in Epidemiology at Emory, Dr. Weber continued her journey with the university working as a Project Coordinator at the Women's and Children's Center where her work consisted of projects focused on policy change, prevention, intervention, and pilot planning.
Her work in folic acid promotion and pilot planning for an obesity prevention and reduction study among working, African American women at Grady Hospital helped shape her interest in obtaining a PhD in Nutrition and Health Sciences.
“It really opened my eyes to the value of adding story-based and experience-based data to more numerical data, which I had previously been using as an epidemiologist and geneticist,” said Dr. Weber.
Dr. Weber conducts mixed methods studies, including techniques to gather and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data. Her recent research in these areas includes the South Asian Health and Prevention Education study (SHAPE) and the Diabetes Community Lifestyle Improvement Program (D- CLlP).
Outside of Emory University’s attractive work life balance, Dr. Weber says the work environment of the university and her department is what keeps her at Emory.
“I really appreciate that Emory promotes collaboration and is a supportive and non-competitive environment," said Dr. Weber.
Throughout her time at Emory, Dr. Weber has worked with a variety of diverse projects and communities.
“I've fortunately had the opportunity to work in different communities that really made me excited to collaborate with people on the community level to find ways that are of value to them and help change behaviors," Dr. Weber explained.
Currently, Dr. Weber is working on Project Peach which is an ongoing study to understand views and barriers around Covid- 19 testing among communities affected with diabetes – those with or at risk for diabetes and people that care for those with diabetes in underserved communities in Atlanta and across Georgia.
“Even as COVID is becoming a part of our day-to-day life, it's still something people with diabetes will be thinking about,” said Dr. Weber.
Working on this project with the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center’s (EDGRC) collaborative network (Georgia Tech and Morehouse School of Medicine), EGDRC received a grant to implement a mobile phone-based text nudge study to encourage people to get tested through tailored text messages based on their research.
If this study is successful, Dr. Weber says "this could be a tool that we could use around diabetes prevention and management and help foster collaborative relationships. "
Hobbies
Board games with 7-year-old daughter, baking, and working puzzles.
Current Book
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
