From my
first day in the Honors College at George Mason, I have been told that research
is a critical part of the undergraduate experience. Hours of research classes freshman and
sophomore years made me passionate about my major (Global and Community Health,
Nutrition concentration) from a research perspective. I joined Dr. Sina Gallo and Dr. Janine
Rethy’s research team basically in the middle of the study they were
conducting. This study surveyed Loudoun
County physicians on their attitudes and practices regarding breastfeeding and infant
vitamin D supplementation. We wanted to
know if physicians were recommending breastfeeding and infant vitamin D
supplementation to new mothers and counseling them appropriately, as is advised
by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Academy of Breastfeeding
Medicine (ABM). When I started with URSP
in June, Drs. Rethy and Gallo had collected all the results from the survey and
fellow URSP grantee Julia Pfeiffer had converted the data into reader-friendly
tables and charts.
My first
task was to perform statistical analysis to find correlation, if any, between
physician demographics and AAP and ABM protocol knowledge based on survey
questions and answers. My second task
was to write a paper discussing previous studies on our topic (a review of the
literature), what our survey results said, and how we can take these results to
inform public health interventions in Northern Virginia. We also want to make the survey available
online for use in clinics across America.
Producing this paper has been a learning experience in writing to
“publishable” standards (we plan on submitting the final product to Breastfeeding Medicine) and working with
a team of professionals. My last task is
to create a research poster about our study, not only for the final URSP
presentation but also for presentation at the AAP National Conference in
Washington, D.C. in October 2015.
I also
attended a Loudoun Breastfeeding Coalition meeting in Dr. Gallo’s place and
learned about all the new breastfeeding initiatives being put into motion by
passionate physicians, lactation consultants, and local mothers. Even though I have never been a mother or
breastfed, I have become interested in the topic because of this research. I intend to follow the progress of
breastfeeding advocates, and become one myself if I am a mother in the (very
distant J) future. Although I
have not decided what my focus will be once I (hopefully) become a Registered
Dietitian Nutritionist, I would like to continue to study mothers and/or
children, possibly looking at the link between breastfeeding, food insecurity,
and child obesity.
I am very grateful for the experiences OSCAR and URSP have offered me. I advise any future freshmen to dive into research at every opportunity and find what you are passionate about by doing.
