Amy Sato

Amy Sato is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kent State University, where she directs the Pediatric Health & Stress Laboratory. Her research focuses on child and adolescent obesity, eating behaviors, and pediatric weight management interventions, emphasizing family influences, stress responses, and food insecurity in at-risk populations. She collaborates with Akron Children’s Hospital on clinical studies and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

• Education: Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2009)

Research Interests include:

• Biobehavioral responses to stress in obesity pathways
• Family dynamics in pediatric weight management
• Food insecurity among low-income youth
• Development of novel behavioral interventions
• Immigration and acculturation factors in child health
• Technology applications in health behavior monitoring

Recent publications highlight interdisciplinary approaches to stress-obesity linkages, family-based interventions, and health disparities. She mentors graduate students in clinical and health psychology, with a focus on translational research. Her work has been recognized with the Paper of the Year award from Stress and Health (2014).