I am a recent graduate of the Doctor of Public Health program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
I am a public health researcher and Registered Dietitian with expertise in implementation science, lifestyle medicine, and health systems transformation.
Hello! My name is Meghan Ames.
From clinical nutrition to implementation science.
I returned to my public health roots and served as the Obesity Prevention Coordinator at the State Health Department. I contributed firsthand to the expansive impact of system-level strategies, like the adoption, integration, and sustainability of programs like the diabetes prevention program.
I wanted to help health professionals do their job better by aiding in the translation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions. I returned to school to study public health and implementation science and receive my Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree.
Investigation of how professional training facilitates lifestyle medicine implementation within health systems.
Nutrition and behavioral counseling have always been a cornerstone of my work.
As a trained dietitian, I started my career delivering the diabetes prevention program to patients with type 2 diabetes. I was in awe to see some of my patients’ diabetes go into remission simply through diet and exercise changes.
Delivering the intervention to patients one-by-one quickly felt like an uphill battle, and I wanted to make a difference among more people—at a population level.
Translation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions.
My dissertation research combined my clinical nutrition and health behavior experience with the foundation I had gained in implementation science. I partnered with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine to explore the facilitators and barriers impacting lifestyle medicine through qualitative research. I conducted an in-depth analysis on how professional development and education and facilitate lifestyle medicine practice.
I also evaluated an online training program for healthcare professionals. I used survey data to demonstrate how training completion was associated with increases in knowledge, confidence, and practice behaviors.
“My purpose is to empower patients and health professionals through research, training, and behavior change counseling.”