A publication of The Graduate School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Archives Spring 2001 Home | Back issues | About us | Email your feedback | The Graduate School | UNC-Chapel Hill | Make a gift |
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One Doctoral Student, Tina Marie Saldana, a doctoral student in the nutrition department at UNC-Chapel Hill, has no time to waste. Shes an educator, a mom, a dietitian and a researcher all rolled into one. A winner of the prestigious Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster, Jr. Fellowship, Saldanas goal is to help foster educational partnerships between the University and the community. Saldana was interviewed in January of 2001 by Nadia Watts.
The Fountain: What is your background? Tina Marie Saldana (TMS): I
am Mexican-American. I was born and grew up in a small town in rural Oregon,
but my family is originally from the New Mexico area. My grandparents
were migrant farm workers who settled out of the migrant stream. My mom
was the first person in my family to graduate from high school. I was
the first person in my family to go off to college. I didnt have
a lot of financial support from my family, so I worked full time as a
florist until I Fountain: When did you first know you were interested in the sciences? TMS: When I was young, I had
an excellent biology instructor who got me hooked by encouraging me to
participate in science fairs. I attended the National Academy of Sciences
between my junior and senior years of high school and competed at the
National Academy of Sciences when I was a senior. Then I went to Oregon
State University and majored in microbiology. I wasnt sure exactly
what Id end up doing at that point, but I really enjoyed the sciences. After graduating, I went into
the Peace Corps. I was a rural development volunteer in the Dominican
Republic for two and a half years. Thats where I started to become
interested in nutrition and the effects of nutrition on health and on
peoples lives. I worked on gardening projects. It was rewarding
to see someone eating healthy food from his or her own garden. Fountain: What next? TMS: After the Peace Corps,
I traveled alone throughout all of South America. I backpacked for six
months. I wanted to see more of the world and how people lived. When I
got back to the United States, I worked as a chemist at the National Council
for Air and Stream Improvement, testing for dioxin in paper products. I went back for my Masters
in nutrition and food management at Oregon State. Then I worked as a nutritionist
for two years in the Women, Infants and Childrens program (WIC).
I really enjoyed that. I taught nutrition and breast-feeding classes to
people I felt really could use the information. I sometimes miss that. Fountain: Why did you return to school for your Ph.D.? TMS: I wanted to teach nutrition
to other health professionals who could then go out in the field and share
their skills with the community. I also wanted to look at nutrition and
food research, as well as health-related outcomes. My primary motivation
has always been to do research that may help improve peoples quality
of life. Also, I havent had a
lot of professors who were Hispanic. I think its important to be
able to say that I come from a migrant family background, but that does
not limit what I can do. I felt that as a member of the University I could
relate to students from similar social and economic backgrounds, and somewhere
down the line serve as a mentor to them. Fountain: What is your research interest here at Carolina? TMS: Im mainly interested
in health issues for moms and babies. Diabetes is an important health
outcome thats really increasing in our population. Half the women
who get diabetes during pregnancy gestational diabetes develop
diabetes later in life. In order to reduce the risks associated with long-term
diabetes, its important to understand more about the causes of gestational
diabetes. Im currently studying
the birth outcomes of women whose glucose levels fall below the definition
of gestational diabetes. I am trying to understand how womens diets
before they become pregnant, their weight gain during pregnancy and their
physical activity influence the development of impaired glucose tolerance
during pregnancy. From a public health prospective, all these risk factors
are very important places where modification could be suggested. At this point in my degree,
Im ABD all but dissertation. In addition to doing my dissertation,
I also decided to take the time to become a registered dietitian to get
some clinical experience. Carolina offers a unique opportunity to do that.
I have a lot of experience in the community, but Id never worked
in the hospital. Now Im working on my
dissertation on impaired glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Its
exciting to start the analysis. Its going to be very fun. Fountain: What do you plan to do when you graduate? Whats
your dream job? TMS: Id like a teaching
and research position, maybe in a small university in a reasonably small
town. Id like to teach community nutrition or maternal child health
nutrition classes. It would be rewarding to help masters students
get into the field and help develop a partnership between the community
and the school where I teach. Fountain: How do you balance being a mom to a 5 year-old and a
2-year-old while youre in graduate school? TMS: Family is very important.
I try to juggle being involved in my childrens lives with working
as much as I can, while keeping my hours on my dissertation. Ive
taken both my kids to many classes, seminars and meetings. Having professors
who are amenable to this has been very helpful in balancing family and
school. I have been lucky to have that kind of support from my two major
professors. Im also thankful to have received funding from NIGMS,
Research The Royster Fellowship is extremely helpful, because it allows me to focus on my dissertation research. In addition to the financial help, the society has provided me the opportunity to meet and share research interests with other fellows and professors from across the University. |
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