Colleen Doak

Dr. Doak spent more than 15 years specializing in the field of nutrition as a professor at the VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands. During this time, she conducted research on a global scale in low and middle-income countries including Guatemala, South Africa, and India with a focus on how child undernutrition food insecurity, overweight, obesity and chronic disease converge with poverty.

Dr. Doak continues to research domestically, considering how public health messages impact the physical and social health of a community. In her research, she is interested in exploring the limitations of weight and height as measures of health and nutrition, impacting growth, overweight and obesity.

Solorzano, Amberly A., Stevens, Sarah M., Doak, Colleen M. (2022). Misconceptions in the Use of Body Mass Index. Nutrition Today. № 6, p. 329-335.

Doak CM, Campos Ponce M, Vossenaar M, Solomons NW. The stunted child with an overweight mother as a growing public health concern in resource-poor environments: a case study from Guatemala. Ann Hum Biol. 2016;43(2):122-30.

Doak CM, van der Starre RE, van Beusekom I, Campos Ponce M, Vossenaar M, Solomons NW. Earlier introduction of aguitas is associated with higher risk of stunting in infants and toddlers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Mar;97(3):631-6.

Campos Ponce M, Incani RN, Pinelli E, Ten Kulve N, Ramak R, Polman K, Doak CM. Are intestinal parasites fuelling the rise in dual burden households in Venezuela? Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2013 Feb;107(2):119-23.

Reurings M, Vossenaar M, Doak CM, Solomons NW. Stunting rates in infants and toddlers born in metropolitan Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Nutrition. 2013 Apr;29(4):655-60.

Voorend CG, Norris SA, Griffiths PL, Sedibe MH, Westerman MJ, Doak CM. 'We eat together; today she buys, tomorrow I will buy the food': adolescent best friends' food choices and dietary practices in Soweto, South Africa. Public Health Nutr. 2013 Mar;16(3):559-67.

Doak CM, Hoffman DJ, Norris, SA, Campos Ponce M, Polman K, & Griffiths PL. Is body mass index an appropriate proxy for body fat in children? Food Security, 2013(2), 65-71.

Nicolaou M, van Valkengoed IG, Doak CM, van Dam RM, Stronks K, Seidell JC. Ethnic differences in self-rated overweight and association with reporting weight loss action: the SUNSET study. Eur J Public Health. 2012 Dec;22(6):859-63.

Kruger A, Wissing MP, Towers GW, Doak CM. Sex differences independent of other psycho-sociodemographic factors as a predictor of body mass index in black South African adults. J Health Popul Nutr. 2012 Mar;30(1):56-65.

Nicolaou M, Benjelloun S, Stronks K, van Dam RM, Seidell JC, Doak CM. Influences on body weight of female Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands: a qualitative study.Health Place. 2012 Jul;18(4):883-91.

Van Elsland SL, Van der Hoeven M, Joshi S, Doak CM, Ponce MC. Pressure cooker ownership and food security in Aurangabad, India. Public Health Nutr. 2012 May;15(5):818-26.

Jasti S, Lee CH, Doak C. Gender, acculturation, food patterns, and overweight in Korean immigrants. Am J Health Behav. 2011 Nov;35(6):734-45.

Doak CM, Heitmann B, Summerbell C and Lissner L. Prevention of childhood obesity - What type of evidence should we consider relevant. Obes Rev. 2009. 10(3):350-6.

Nicolaou M, Doak CM, van Dam RM, Brug J, Stronks K, Seidell, JC. Cultural and Social Determinants of Food Consumption in Dutch Residents of Turkish and Moroccan Origin: A Qualitative Study. J Nutr Educ Beh. 2009. 41(4): 232-41.

Doak CM, Adair LS, Bentley M, Monteiro C, Popkin BM. The dual burden household and the nutrition transition paradox. Int J Obes. 2005. Jan; 29 (1): 129-36.

Doak C, Adair L., Monteiro, C. and Popkin B. (2000) Overweight and Underweight Co‑exist Within Households in Brazil, China and Russia. J Nutr. 2000. 130 (12): 2965-2971.