National women’s team hockey player Stephanie Whiteman, daughter of the former national duo, Kenneth Whiteman and Carol Wynn-Whiteman is one of three candidates selected by Vital Strategies as the Healthy Food Policy Fellows for this year which is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies for three years.
The selection committee reviewed 33 applications of and conducted interviews before shortlisting 11 candidates from which the final decisions were made.
The fellows are from countries where we focus on obesity prevention in Barbados where she attends university, Mexico, and Jamaica and will be pursuing different fields of study to bridge the research gaps and contribute to healthier food environments, through the use of the public policy, in their respective countries.
The 24-year-old Whiteman of Notre Dame Hockey Club is an upcoming Public Health Researcher.
A former Lock Haven University player, Whiteman is pursuing a PhD in nutritional epidemiology from the University of West Indies.
As a research associate at the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, she is working on several research projects related to the relationship between the food environment and health.
She is also a fellow for Yale- Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center’s Data Sharing Work Group which runs for a year and began last January.
The Yale Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research focuse on Precision Medicine (Yale-TCC) is a collaboration between the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) and health, policy, and community leaders in Region II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), Trinidad, and Barbados.
The Yale-TCC builds upon the infrastructure and knowledge of the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN) to generate novel science, strengthen partnerships, and implement interventions to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases within Region II and the Caribbean.
The Yale-TCC, funded by the National Institute of Health/National Institute of Minority Health and Disparities (NIH/NIMHD), aims to: 1. Utilize a precision medicine approach to inform a broad range of robust research and programmatic activities to advance scientific knowledge, technical capacity, and clinical practice that address the early detection and primary prevention of hypertension and type 2 diabetes in Region II, Trinidad, and Barbados. 2. Develop, launch, and evaluate a series of activities and events to promote a collaborative and multidirectional learning environment across the Yale-TCC. 3. Disseminate and communicate findings internal and external to the YALE-TCC to promote diffusion, uptake, and scale-up of evidence-based and cost-effective interventions.
In 2016, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Science from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
She has also obtained an MPH from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.
Apart from her researcher roles, Whiteman is also a Public Health advocate.
She is a youth advocate for the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and an NCD Child Young Leader.
Also, she is a health technical advisor for the Reconciliation and Development Association in Cameroon.
Besides her work within the health field, Whiteman is a qualified FIH Level 1 Field Hockey Coach.