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Elizabeth Widen

  • Assistant Professor
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Human Ecology
Profile image of Elizabeth Widen
elizabeth.widen@austin.utexas.edu
DPI
2.830
The Widen Lab

Biography

Dr. Beth Widen is a Registered Dietitian and Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Nutritional Sciences within the School of Human Ecology in the College of Natural Sciences. Widen is faculty at the Dell Pediatric Research Institute, faculty research associate at the Population Research Center, and affiliate faculty in the Departments of Women’s Health and Pediatrics at Dell Medical School, and the Texas Center for Equity Promotion. Widen is a nutritional and perinatal epidemiologist and her research takes a life course approach at the intersection of nutrition, perinatal and pediatric epidemiology, behavioral nutrition, and human biology. She develops and applies advanced analytic methods to elucidate the role of nutrition in early life on short- and long-term health, and develops and applies interdisciplinary intervention programs that aim to improve nutrition and health during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood. Her work specifically targets high-risk and understudied populations, including under- and un-insured predominately Hispanic families in the Austin area, and other people at heightened nutritional risk. 

Widen's is currently Principal Investigator of a R01 from NIDDK, and grants from the Episcopal Health Foundation, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the Egg Nutrition Center, and the National Pork Board. She has received many accolades, including an Early Career Award from the Thrasher Research Fund, and a Mid-Career Award from the Community and Public Health Nutrition Research Interest Section of ASN.

Widen holds a BS in Dietetics from Miami University, and a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to completing her PhD, Widen was an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Following her PhD, she completed an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University in the Institute of Human Nutrition, the Department of Epidemiology at Mailman School of Public Health, and the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center.

Research

Dr. Widen's research program applies an interdisciplinary life course approach to the intersection of nutrition sciences with reproductive, perinatal, pediatric and nutritional epidemiology and behavioral nutrition. The goal of Dr. Widen's research is to develop and apply advanced analytic methods, interdisciplinary approaches and interventions to improve nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life and thereafter. She conducts her research among populations at risk of health disparities, including under- and un-insured families in the Austin area and in New York City. 

Widen's lab at The University of Texas at Austin leads (1) a randomized controlled trials focused on infant feeding and parenting sensitivity to prevent child obesity and promote healthy growth, optimize infant nutrition and feeding practices, and support cognitive and motor development, and child self-regulation (2) a nutritional phenotyping pregnancy cohort, the Mother Infant NuTrition Study (MINT), with mother-infant follow up postpartum, and (3) several studies focused on weight or body composition trajectories among high-risk populations, including multiple gestations, people with obesity and mothers with HIV and their children in Africa. 

Research Areas

  • Nutrition or Obesity
  • Human Development
  • Statistics, Big Data or Machine Learning
  • Health Promotion or Disease Prevention
  • Relationships, Families and Youth

Fields of Interest

  • Maternal and Child Nutrition
  • Behavioral and Community Nutrition
  • Clinical and Translational Nutrition

Centers and Institutes

  • Population Research Center

Education

  • Ph.D., Nutritional Epidemiology, The Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • B.S., Dietetics, Miami University
  • R.D., University of Maryland at College Park

Publications

  • Selected publications, *denoted mentored graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. 

    For a full list of publications visit My Bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1rAkJDE8AbHQv/bibliography/public/ 

    1. Widen EM, Nichols A*, Harper L, Cahill A, Davis JN, Foster S*, Rickman R*, Xu F, Hedderson M. Weight loss and low weight gain during pregnancy among individuals with obesity: associations with adverse perinatal outcomes. Am J Perinatol. 2023 doi: 10.1055/a-2211-4945 
    2. Nichols AR*, Haeri S, Rudine A, Burns N, Rathouz P, Hedderson M, Abrams A, Foster SF, Rickman RR, McDonnold M, Widen EM. Prenatal weight change trajectories and perinatal outcomes among twin gestations. Am J Perinatol. 2023 Jul 11. doi: 10.1055/a-2091-1254. 
    3. Kinsey EW, Widen EM, Quinn JW, Huynh M, Van Wye G, Lovasi GS, Neckerman KM, Caniglia EC, Rundle AG. Neighborhood Food Environment and Birth Weight Outcomes in New York City. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Jun 1;6(6):e2317952. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.17952. 
    4. Nichols AR*, Burns N, Xu F, Foster SF*, Rickman RR*, Hedderson M, Widen EM. Novel approaches to examining weight change in pregnancies affected by obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.03.001
    5. Rundle AG, Kinsey EW, Widen EM, Quinn J, Huynh M, Lovasi G, Neckerman KM, Van Wye G. Neighbourhood walkability and poverty are associated with risk of Gestational Diabetes: A cross-sectional study in New York City. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023; 00:1-6. doi:10.1111/ppe.12952
    6. Widen E, Burns N, Grewal J, Backlund G, Nichols A, Rickman R, Foster S, Nhan-Chang C, Zhang C, Wapner R, Kahn L, Wing D, Owen J, Skupski D, Ranzini A, Newman R, Grobman W, Daniels MJ. Pregnancy body composition trajectories and neonatal adiposity: the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies. Pediatric Obesity. 2023; 18( 3):e12994. doi:10.1111/ijpo.12994
    7. Foster S*, Vasquez C, Cubbin C, Nichols A, Rickman R, Widen E. Breastfeeding, socio-economic status and long-term postpartum weight retention. International Breastfeeding Journal 2023; https://doi.org/10.1186/s13006-022-00534-0
    8. Rickman R*, Lane C, Collins SM, Miller J, Onono M, Wekesa P, Nichols A, Foster S, Shiau S, Young S, Widen E. Body composition trajectories differ by HIV exposure in infants from birth to 23 months in western Kenya: a prospective study. Journal of Nutrition 2022; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2022.11.010
    9. Widen E, Burns N, Daniels M, Backlund G, Rickman R, Foster S, Nichols A, Hoepner L, Kinsey E, Ramirez-Carvey J, Hassoun A, Perera FP, Bukowski R, Rundle AG. Gestational weight change and childhood body composition trajectories from pregnancy to early adolescence. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2022; 1-11. doi:10.1002/oby.23367
    10. Kinsey E, Widen E, Quinn J, Huynh M, Van Wye G, Lovasi G, Neckerman K, Rundle A. Neighborhood walkability and poverty predict excessive gestational weight gain in New York City. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2022; 1-12. doi:10.1002/oby.2339
    11. Asim M*, Ahmed Z, Nichols A*, Rickman R*, Neiterman E, Mahmood A*, Widen E. What stops us from eating: A qualitative investigation of dietary barriers during pregnancy in Punjab, Pakistan. Public Health Nutrition, 2021; doi:10.1017/S1368980021001737.
    12. Lane C, Widen E, Collins S, Young S. HIV-exposed, uninfected infants in Uganda experience poorer growth and body composition trajectories than HIV-unexposed infants. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020 Jun 24. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002428.
    13. Asim M*, Nazaw Y, Hayward M, Widen E. Prelacteal Feeding Practices in Pakistan: A Mixed-Methods Study. Int Breastfeed J. 2020 Jun 8;15(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s13006-020-00295-8.
    14. Widen E, Nichols A*, Kahn L, Factor-Litvak P, Insel B, Hoepner L, Dube S, Rauh V, Perera F, Rundle A. Prepregnancy obesity is associated with cognitive outcomes in boys in a low-income, multiethnic birth cohort. BMC Pediatr. 2019 Dec 20;19(1):507.
    15. Nichols A*, Insel B, Rundle A, Hoepner L, Factor-Litvak P, Ruah V, Perera F, Widen E. Maternal prepregnancy overweight and obesity are associated with lower psychomotor development scores in boys at age 3. J Dev Orig Health Dis. Sept 2019. doi: 10.1017/S2040174419000412
    16. Vandyousefi S, Whaley S, Widen E, Asigbee F, Landry M, Ghaddar R, Davis J. Association of Breastfeeding and Early Exposure to Sugar-Sweetened Beverages with Obesity Prevalence in Offspring born to Mothers with and without Gestational Diabetes Mellitus. Pediatr Obes. 2019 Dec;14(12):e12569.

Awards

  • Mid-Career Award 2023, American Society for Nutrition Community and Public Health Nutrition Research Interest Section
  • K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, 2016-2022, NIH/NICHD K99HD086304
  • Best Paper in Obesity Research 2015, Science Unbound Foundation
  • Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award, 2016-2020
  • Obesity Research Postdoctoral Training Award, 2015-2016, NIH/NIDDK T32DK007559
  • Interdisciplinary Nutrition and Population Health Postdoctoral Training Award, 2012-2014, NIH/NIDDK T32DK091227
  • Gerber Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 2011, American Society for Nutrition
  • Graduate School Fellowship in Science and Technology, 2008-2009, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill