معرفی
Dr. Sheryl O. Hughes is a Research Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, School of Medicine, and leads the Hughes Lab within the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas. Her research focuses on parental influences on child eating behaviors and obesity prevention.
Her research interests center on the ecological development of childhood eating behaviors, particularly how parental feeding styles, parent-child mealtime interactions, and appetite self-regulation contribute to childhood obesity. She develops and tests culturally relevant, family-focused interventions to promote healthy eating in preschool-aged children, especially in low-income and Hispanic populations.
The recent publications reflect a consistent focus on measuring and modifying food parenting practices, understanding feeding styles, and designing digital and community-based interventions. Her work spans behavioral nutrition, developmental psychology, and public health, with strong emphasis on measurement tools and longitudinal outcomes.
Dr. Hughes has secured significant federal funding from NIH and USDA and actively mentors postdoctoral and graduate researchers. She has developed widely used assessment tools including the Caregivers Feeding Styles Questionnaire and the Food Parenting Inventory.
Her lab collaborates with Head Start programs and community partners in Houston, and she is involved in multiple ongoing projects such as the Nurturing Needs Study, TECH Study, CHEF-ED, and BEST study, focusing on digital health, cooking education, and feeding practices.
