Gillings School Directory
Stephanie L. Martin, PhD
Stephanie L. Martin, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition
Stephanie Martin’s research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of social and behavioral interventions to improve nutrition during pregnancy, lactation, and childhood. Dr. Martin is currently examining interventions to increase fathers, grandmothers, and other family members support for infant feeding and nurturing care in Zambia; support exclusive breastfeeding among women working in the informal sector in urban Tanzania; and improve adolescent nutrition in informal settlements in Kenya. She also conducts implementation research as part of a USAID-funded nutrition project in Zambia and to identify challenges health workers experience when providing lactation support to families in North Carolina and Appalachia. Her previous research identified successful strategies to increase adherence to prenatal micronutrient supplementation in Ethiopia and Kenya. All of her research is conducted in partnership with academic, nongovernmental organization, or government partners in the locations where she works.
Dr. Martin's research has been informed by her 13-year career working on global health programs. As a global health practitioner, she implemented policy-, facility- and community-level programs, and developed dozens of training and communication materials to promote maternal, child, and adolescent health and nutrition, as well as HIV prevention, care, and treatment. With USAID Advancing Nutrition, she currently co-hosts the Family Inclusion in Nutrition through Engagement (FINE) Community of Practice, which has hundreds of members from all over the world.
Stephanie Martin in the Gillings news
- Preserving and promoting breastfeeding support in Appalachia
- Looking at the impact of COVID-19 on exclusive breastfeeding in Kenya and beyond
- Improving maternal and child nutrition is a family endeavor
- Eight faculty members win 2020 Teaching Innovation Awards
- Martin to identify interventions to support exclusive breastfeeding in Tanzania
Representative Courses
NUTR 723: Community Nutrition
Key Publications
Facilitators and barriers to providing breastfeeding and lactation support to families in Appalachia: A mixed-methods study with lactation professionals and supporters. Seiger ER, Wasser HM, Hutchinson S, Foster G, Sideek R, Martin SL. (2022). American Journal of Public Health, 112(S8), S797-S806.
Fathers and grandmothers experiences participating in peer dialogue groups for improved maternal and child nutrition. Thuita F, Mukuria AG, Muhomah T, Locklear K, Grounds SC, Martin SL (2021). Maternal & Child Nutrition, 17.
Mixed-methods systematic review of behavioral interventions in low- and middle-income countries to increase family support for maternal, infant, and young child nutrition during the first 1,000 days. Martin SL, McCann JK, Gascoigne E, Allotey D, Fundira D, Dickin KL (2020). Current Developments in Nutrition, 4(6).
Adherence-specific social support enhances adherence to calcium supplement regimens among pregnant women. Martin SL, Omotayo MO, Pelto GH, Chapleau GM, Stoltzfus RJ, Dickin KL (2017). Journal of Nutrition, 147(4), 688-696.
Adherence partners are an acceptable behavior change strategy to support calcium and iron-folic acid supplementation among pregnant women in Ethiopia and Kenya. Martin SL, Omotayo MO, Chapleau GM, Stoltzfus RJ, Birhanu Z, Ortolano SE, Pelto GH, Dickin KL (2016). Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(3).
What motivates maternal and child nutrition peer educators? Experiences of fathers and grandmothers in western Kenya. Martin SL, Muhoma T, Thuita FM, Bingham A, Mukuria AG (2015). Social Science & Medicine, 143(1), 45–53.
Education
PhD, Nutrition, Cornell University, 2016
MEd, Adult Education, George Mason University, 2003
BA, International Studies, American University, 1997
