Meet Corrie Whisner | Associate Professor of Nutrition at Arizona State University

We had the good fortune of connecting with Corrie Whisner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Corrie, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
The Snuggle Bug / Acurrucadito Project is a National Institutes of Health-funded research study that will help us reduce obesity among children in the future. Being overweight in infancy and toddlerhood is a growing public health problem. Almost 10% of infants and toddlers are overweight; this increases their risk for childhood obesity and chronic disease during adulthood. Many factors are associated with obesity but very little is known about how sleep-wake patterns and the gut microbiome in infancy shape a child’s future risk for carrying excess weight. Ultimately, we hope to create clinical and public health interventions that will shape future guidelines for sleep and gut health so all babies grow up to be healthy and happy adults.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
When you are a researcher working with human participants, there are always surprises and challenges that pop up on a regular basis. In a perfect world you would be able to anticipate all of these issues in advance but that just isn’t how life works. Lots of investigators get irritated when things like this happens but our team approaches things a little differently. We see our participants as generous volunteers who are bravely and selflessly giving up their limited amounts of free time as sleep-deprived new mothers to participate in something bigger than any one of us alone. Each person who volunteers for a research study is not only giving their time but also their personal information, and depending on the research, parts of themselves (e.g. blood, urine, etc.). It takes a strong, consistent and devoted team to build rapport and trust with prospective participants and we have been fortunate to find the BEST team for Snuggle Bug. Our team consists of a project manager, two community health workers, graduate and undergraduate students at ASU. We meet weekly to discuss challenges that our participants are facing so that we can address each participant’s challenges individually and with an open mind. We believe that our participants are each unique and have their own lived experiences that we need to honor and support while also doing the best science possible. Sometimes it gets a little messy but it is real, exciting, beautiful and complex all at the same time. These moms mean the world to us and we adore watching each mother and baby bond over the course of baby’s first year.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d go to the botanical garden, art museum, check out the architecture that is unique in the city, get ice cream at a local place, hike up some mountains, go to the zoo, and eat at some of the newest restaurants.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to give a shout out to my partner in crime on the Snuggle Bug / Acurrucadito Study, Dr. Megan Petrov, Associate Professor in the Edson College of Nursing at Arizona State University. Megan and I are both Principle Investigators on this study and started our academic careers at ASU the same year. When we first met, it was in a cafe near campus where a mutual colleague introduced us. We quickly became fascinated with one another’s research areas and started to brainstorm how we could work together. Ultimately, we came up with the idea to study how microbes in our gut might interact with our sleep behaviors and metabolic health. We became quick friends and have supported one another through the highs and lows that academic life can bring. We also both had babies while working on this project which further fueled our desire to succeed. Many people probably don’t realize this but there is a surprisingly high amount of rejection in academic research positions and we have been able to support and encourage each other through all of it. Megan never gave up on our idea and always had a plan for us to dig deeper and fill in the gaps we needed to gain the required funding. The absolute best part about Megan is that she appreciates me for who I am and all the quirks I have. For example, I need a creative outlet in my life (e.g. sewing, knitting, drawing, etc.) and Megan has always allowed me to incorporate that side of me into our study without judgement or concern that I’d loose sight of the science part of our work. Not many would be so supportive and loving! So thank you, thank you to the amazing Dr. Megan Petrov! I see you and I appreciate you! Let’s never stop this Snuggle Bug journey!

Website: https://asusnugglebugstudy.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASUSnuggleBug/