Contact Information

Office: S425 CPHB
Phone: 319-384-1553
Faculty Profile

Brief description of current research:

I was an investigator in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial. That landmark study has driven the work that practitioners do in the treatment of diabetes today. I am a mentor to Dr. Wei Bao who is focusing his research on gestational diabetes. This collaboration allows us to present new ideas to funders and explore cutting edge research.
As a part of the OREI, I study obesity in middle school children using the infrastructure that is a part of my Provost’s Office of Outreach and Engagement. This infrastructure has allowed me to write an R01 that will explore the an intervention to reduce elevated levels of type 2 diabetes in Hispanic middle school children.

I have also worked with the University of Michigan in a study to reduce obesity in children who have a greater likelihood of developing diabetes later in life. My work with Dr. Ken Resnicow, Professor at the University of Michigan has led to new ways of intervention to increase healthy eating in families with overweight children.

3 most influential diabetes/obesity/metabolism publications:

• Anderson EJ, Richardson M, Castle G, Cercone S, Delahanty L, Lyon R, Mueller D, Snetselaar L. Nutrition interventions for intensive therapy in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial. J Am Diet Assoc. 1993; 93(7):768-772. PMID: 8320402.
• Snetselaar L. Identifying obstacles to dietary adherence in the DCCT. On the Cutting Edge. 1994; 15(2):18.
• Resnicow K, McMaster F, Woolford S, Slora E, Bocian A, Harris D, Drehmer J, Wasserman R, Schwartz R, Myers E, Foster J, Snetselaar L, Hollinger D, Smith K, Study design and baseline description of the BMI2 trial: reducing paediatric obesity in primary care practices. Pediatric Obesity. 2012 Feb 7(1):3-15. (Epub 2011 Dec 13). PMID:22434735.
• Resnicow K, McMaster F, Bocian A, Harris D, Zhou Y, Snetselaar L, Schwartz R, Myers E, Gotlieb J, Foster J, Hollinger D, Smith K, Woolford S, Mueller D, Wasserman RC. Motivational Interviewing and Dietary Counseling for Obesity in Primary Care: An RCT. Pediatrics 2015 Apr;135(4):649-57. PMID: 25825539; PMCID: PMC4379459
• Resnicow K, Harris D, Wasserman R, Schwartz RP, Perez-Rosas V, Mihalcea R, Snetselaar L. Advances in motivational interviewing for pediatric obesity. Results of the brief motivational interviewing to reduce body mass index trial and future directions. Pediatr Clin N Am 2016 Jun 63(3):539-62. PMID: 27261549

Quote:

“I had the experience of working in a landmark clinical trial the DCCT. That research taught me to understand the importance of tailoring our interventions to promote healthy behaviors that resulted in HbA1c that lead to reduced complications. The teamwork in that study was exemplary and a testimony to life changing work in the area of diabetes treatment.”