Professor Melissa Olfert

School of Agriculture and Food Systems, Department of Human Nutrition and Food, West Virginia University, WV, USA

Dr. Olfert is a chronic disease prevention researcher focusing on modifiable risk factors for the prevention, management and treatment of chronic diseases utilizing novel approaches to change lifestyle behaviors in individuals and communities in underrepresented populations. As a Professor of Human Nutrition and Foods, in the School of Agriculture and Food Systems in the Department of Human Nutrition and Food at West Virginia University, her passion is to train the next generations of lifestyle interventionists. Dr. Olfert has a broad background in public health, with specific training and expertise in nutrition, as a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), and clinical exercise physiologist, she brings a wholistic approach to research targeting specific lifecycle stages from conception, pregnancy, infant, and toddler, school age, adolescent, and young adulthood. Chronic diseases including metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome are specifically targeted.
As PI and co-investigator on several multi-site/state USDA, NIH funded grants, she has laid the groundwork for novel research by developing effective measures of nutrition and food preparation, nutrition education, mental health/disordered behaviors, and other psychosocial factors relevant to barriers to ‘making the healthy choice the easy choice to prevent chronic disease’. Working with rural and urban communities by establishing strong ties with community providers that make research partnerships strong and sustainable, she has continued to have successful recruitment/enrollment and track participants over time. The need for essential research approaches with a diverse, collaborative team of experts who represent various institutions, populations, and communities is a mainstay in her inclusive approach to building collaborative teams. In light of these large research teams, Dr. Olfert has lead and contributed to many large multi-site and multi-state projects which have resulted in peer-reviewed publications from each project (currently ~135 publications).

Updated 5 November 2024