Rachel Gillespie is a PhD student in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky and Research Project Manager for an NIH-funded R01 working with COVID-19 vaccination across 15 counties in Kentucky.
Rachel utilizes a community-based participatory research approach, including quantitative and qualitative study measures, as a vehicle for implementation science to understand and improve nutrition-related behaviors. Specifically, her work focuses on the intersection of food environments and dietary and shopping behaviors, and how these impact overall nutrition-related health outcomes in a community.
Rachel also focuses her efforts to improve food access by supporting the enhancement of sustainable food systems in rural communities particularly and has worked on several federally supported research projects across the Appalachian region, since 2016.
She has several published manuscripts in academic peer-reviewed journals and has presented her work at several nationally and internationally recognized conferences.
Rachel holds a B.S. in Dietetics and Human Nutrition and an M.S. in Nutrition and Food Systems from the University of Kentucky. She is also a Registered Dietitian and certified lifestyle coach for the nationally recognized Diabetes Prevention Program.
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