is a Professor of Kinesiology and Public Health at the California Polytechnic State University and author of Promoting Responsive Feeding during Breastfeeding, Bottle-feeding, and the Introduction to Solid Foods. She earned a B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology and a minor in Community Nutrition from the University of California, Davis, a M.S. in Nutritional Sciences and a M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ventura also trained as a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a taste and smell research institute in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Ventura’s expertise and research focuses on how family interactions shape dietary preferences, eating behaviors, and growth trajectories during infancy and early childhood. For the past 13 years, she has had many opportunities to put “theory to practice” with her own two sons, aged 11 and 13 years.
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Dr. Alison Ventura is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Public Health at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is also Director of the Cal Poly Healthy Kids Lab and Associate Director of Research Training and Fellowship for the Cal Poly Center for Health Research. Dr. Ventura holds a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University, two MS degrees from the Pennsylvania State University: one in Nutritional Sciences and the other in Human Development and Family Studies, and a BS in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology and a minor in Community Nutrition from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Ventura also trained as a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a taste and smell research institute in Philadelphia, PA. For the past decade, Dr. Ventura’s research has primarily focused on parent-child feeding interactions and understanding how these interactions shape dietary preferences, eating behaviors, and growth trajectories during infancy and early childhood. Much of Dr. Ventura’s recent work focuses on promotion of responsive feeding during breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, and the introduction to complementary foods and beverages.