Hi, my name is Marie Bragg and I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health. My faculty experience at NYU has really been enriched by interactions with students. Whenever students come in with new, bright, and exciting ideas, it can sort of re-energize me and help me look at things in a new way.

Our research addresses childhood obesity and diabetes, particularly because young people of color experience really high rates of diabetes and obesity. And we know that when people have diet-related diseases, when they're young, they can set them up for different health consequences when they're older. So intervening when people are really young is very important. One of my favorite parts about a lecture that I give and talk to students about is asking, "Okay, what influences the way you eat?" And people often say, "Doctors, teachers, parents, or, you know, different health professionals."

And then we put up the advertising budgets of fast food companies and soda companies, and it's in the billions of dollars each year. And so then it sort of helps have this aha moment. It's really overwhelming trying to navigate the United States food system, and dealing with unhealthy food that's very cheap, it tastes really good. It's on every corner. And it's really expensive and difficult to make the healthy stuff that you know, we're supposed to make to maintain a healthy diet.

The legacy I hope to leave behind emphasizes how critical it is to strengthen the pathways for people who are historically left out of science and medicine. And so, for me, as the second person in my family to go to college, it was really meaningful to have mentors along the way, who helped create opportunities for me to get involved in research and encouraged me to take the next step with applying to graduate school or applying to faculty jobs.

And so to be able to do that with students who come through my lab is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. And I hope that not only do I inspire those students to push themselves to their limits in terms of what they accomplish, but that they carry it forward too so that they ensure that the next generation of students can do the same thing.

One of the things I really love about students at NYU is how they work with each other. And so in our research lab with a mix of undergraduate students, masters level students, PhD students, and medical school students, there are some interesting dynamics in terms of experience level and one of the organic things that happens that is always really rewarding to see is how people use the peer mentorship model to sort of teach each other in a bi-directional way. And so the undergraduate students will be learning from the medical students and vice versa and PhD students bring a whole new perspective to things as well and it's really exciting to see that dynamic come together.