Lisa M Bodnar

Lisa M Bodnar is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. She holds a PhD in Nutrition with an Epidemiology minor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MPH in Nutrition, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Reproductive Biology at Magee-Womens Research Institute and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Her research has significantly contributed to pregnancy weight gain guidelines and maternal nutrition science.

• 1998 | BSPH Summa Cum Laude with Highest Honors, Nutrition | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 1998 | Dietetic Internship | University of North Carolina Hospitals
• 1999 | MPH, Nutrition | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 2002 | PhD, Nutrition; Epidemiology Minor | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 2004 | Postdoctoral Fellowship, Reproductive Biology | Magee-Womens Research Institute and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Dr. Bodnar's research focuses on maternal and child health, particularly in the areas of pregnancy weight gain, nutritional epidemiology, obesity during pregnancy, and vitamin D status. Her work has informed national guidelines on gestational weight gain, and she was a member of the 2009 Institute of Medicine Committee to Reexamine Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines. She has pioneered innovative methodological approaches to study optimal gestational weight gain ranges and has documented the poor nutritional status of women before, during, and after pregnancy.

Analysis of Dr. Bodnar's recent publications reveals a strong focus on quantitative methods in epidemiology, including machine learning applications to assess maternal health outcomes. Her work spans nutritional epidemiology, obstetric complications, and health disparities, with particular attention to how prepregnancy obesity affects maternal and child health outcomes. Recent studies examine severe maternal morbidity, preeclampsia risk factors, and dietary patterns in pregnancy.

• Member of the 2009 Institute of Medicine Committee to Reexamine Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines

Dr. Bodnar has secured significant research funding to investigate pregnancy weight gain guidelines, nutritional patterns during pregnancy, and their impacts on maternal and child health outcomes. Her work has filled major knowledge gaps identified by the Institute of Medicine and has provided scientific leadership for refining gestational weight gain guidelines. She teaches grant writing (EPIDEM 2921) and has mentored numerous researchers in the field of maternal and child health epidemiology.

Her research has been conducted through the Epidemiology and Demography Center at the University of Pittsburgh, collaborating with Magee-Womens Research Institute and other national institutions. Dr. Bodnar's work often involves large cohort studies and innovative statistical methodologies to address complex questions in perinatal epidemiology.