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.jpg "Maria S. Hershey, PhD photo")
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
My research aims to evidence the health benefits of the traditional Mediterranean diet and lifestyle in both Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean populations. As a dual citizen of the U.S. and Spain, my academic background in nutritional sciences and human dietetics continues to inspire my career path within the fields of nutritional epidemiology and translational research studying the Mediterranean diet and chronic disease. My doctoral dissertation included interaction analyses on the Mediterranean diet and physical activity as well as an overall Mediterranean lifestyle score for the prevention of chronic diseases and premature mortality. I am ultimately interested in how nutritional epidemiology is interpreted and applied in the decision-making process for implementing health strategies and policies at the public health level. I now continue this line of research as a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard Educational Resource Center (ERC) Training Grant (T42) program studying the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle among a US firefighter working population.