Faculty Research Spotlight
Annie Imboden, DNP, ANP, CPNP, assistant professor in the School of Nursing, is focusing her pediatric health research on the outcomes of child health specifically associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When we started wearing masks during the pandemic, I noticed that it was harder to establish quick rapport with my patients, particularly the infants and toddlers who are
in the stage of stranger anxiety," Imboden said. "I started to wonder whether the pandemic was affecting social connections and childhood development in other ways."
Imboden decided to focus on how the pandemic affected patterns of unhealthy weight gain in children and is studying the body mass index patterns for children ages
5-18 from the pre- to post-pandemic years of 2018-2023.
"Preliminary research supports the fact that children had higher levels of overweight and obesity during the pandemic due to closure of schools and sports and changes in eating habits and stress levels," Imboden explained. aim to study those trends, along with determining whether the levels of overweight and obesity is improving, and if there are differences between socioeconomic, race and gender groups."
Imboden hopes her research pursuits, along with sharing her passion for pediatric healthcare, inspire her current DNP students as they begin their final projects which synthesize the knowledge and skills they have gained during their advanced
