Barbie Role Models: Janet Wojcicki, PhD, MPH (United States)

Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Dr. Wojcicki is an anthropologist and epidemiologist with an interest in early-life risk factors for the development of obesity in high-risk populations. Specifically, she is interested in maternal exposures in pregnancy and early-life feeding decisions that can increase risk for obesity by age 5. Additionally, she has international expertise, particularly in sub-Saharan African populations, in evaluating the relationship between nutritional factors and HIV and HHV-8 infection and progression.

Dr. Wojcicki’s research currently focuses on the evaluation of early-life risk factors for obesity. She recruited a mother-child Latino cohort with support from the NIH and CDHNF to evaluate the relationship between exposure to maternal prenatal and postnatal depression and risk for obesity at age 2, 5, and 7. In addition to obesity, Dr. Wojcicki is also interested in how pediatric undernutrition can contribute to HIV progression and infection with HHV-8. She is a collaborator on a long-term cohort study in Lusaka, Zambia.