Behm receives T32 Institutional Research Training Grant from NCCIH

January 22, 2025

Victoria Yunez Behm

Victoria Yunez Behm, MS, MTS, CNS, LDN, a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been awarded a T32 Institutional Research Training Grant through the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Supplement Program to Promote Diversity in Health Research. Based in the UNC School of Medicine’s Program on Integrative Medicine (PIM), the fellowship offers mentorship from leading faculty with expertise in diverse methodologies, perspectives and approaches related to complementary and integrative health research, particularly for at-risk and underrepresented populations.

Prior to enrolling as a doctoral student in Fall 2024, Yunez Behm practiced as an integrative nutritionist and taught master’s-level clinical nutrition courses at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Her research focuses on integrative nutrition, food and ethics, clinician education, and health equity for at-risk marginalized populations. Through community-based research and culturally grounded interventions, Yunez Behm seeks to bridge gaps in healthcare and clinical training to advance equitable and effective care for the whole person. She is particularly interested in:

• Food and nutrition as mediators of social connection, identity-formation and meaning-making,
• Investigating how community-defined values and traditions enhance the effectiveness and adoption of nutrition interventions among at-risk populations,
• Expanding community-based integrative nutrition education and services, and
• Addressing gaps in clinical and ethical training for healthcare providers to meet the growing demand for culturally relevant nutrition interventions.

Yunez Behm works on a variety of projects with Alice Ammerman, DrPH, her primary advisor and research mentor. She is currently contributing to research led by Daisy Zamora, PhD, and Keturah (Kim) Faurot, PhD, PIM T32 co-director. This project focuses on adapting an analgesic dietary intervention for individuals with chronic low back pain—a condition disproportionately affecting low-income and underserved populations. Additionally, she is leading a mixed-methods research project with a team at the Purpose Project at Duke University investigating the arts and medical humanities as practices to foster moral formation in pre-health education.

This predoctoral fellowship provides three years of funding, from September 2024 to August 2027.

Read the full story from UNC School of Medicine.

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.