Seguin-Fowler to lead social, behavioral initiative at Texas A&M AgriLife Research
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M AgriLife has named Dr. Rebecca Seguin-Fowler as associate director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and associate professor of nutrition and food sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, effective July 1.
A public health scientist with expertise in community-based nutrition and physical activity intervention research, Seguin-Fowler joins Texas A&M from the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Her current research focuses on understanding how people’s social, food and physical activity environments influence behavior change and maintenance— particularly in at-risk populations and settings, such as low-income families and rural communities.
Combining her interests in behavioral theory, health communications and the context in which people develop, change, and maintain health behaviors, Seguin-Fowler has co-developed comprehensive curricula and trainings for evidence-based health promotion programs to benefit midlife and older women. To date, more than 4,000 health educators in 48 states have been trained to implement these community-based physical activity and nutrition programs in predominantly non-urban areas.
In her new role at Texas A&M AgriLife, Seguin-Fowler will provide administrative leadership for the organization’s social and behavioral intervention research initiative. She also will serve as the Healthy Texas community health research director, leading and fostering closer integration of AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension efforts in this statewide health initiative.
“Dr. Seguin-Fowler’s experience mobilizing communities and building initiatives with health educators will benefit our already strong Healthy Texas programming throughout the state,” said Dr. Patrick J. Stover, vice chancellor and dean of Texas A&M AgriLife and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. “We are honored to welcome her to Texas A&M and look forward to working collaboratively to better integrate community health research within AgriLife Extension engagement efforts.”
Seguin-Fowler has secured more than $12M in competitive funding to support her research, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has received numerous awards throughout her career including the Mead Johnson Award from the American Society for Nutrition, the Citation Abstract Excellence Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, and a Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
“I am very excited to be a part of a system where we can have such a notable and far-reaching impact,” Seguin-Fowler said. “The system here, the Extension educators and leadership at the county and regional levels, are top notch, and I am honored to be a part of that.”
Seguin-Fowler, also a registered dietician, received her bachelor’s degree in clinical exercise physiology from Boston University, and a master’s degree in nutrition communication and a doctorate in food policy and applied nutrition from Tufts University in Boston.
