Paul Petraro

Doctoral student, Department of Nutrition

Graduating in political science from Hofstra University, Paul Petraro aspired to contribute to Africa’s critical health needs. A professor suggested the Peace Corps, and Paul ended up in the Katete District of Zambia for over two years. It was his first time outside of the United States, and he loved it. Working in water and sanitation, health education, and community development, Paul became especially interested in teaching the skeptical villagers about HIV. “In addition to providing education about HIV, I was the condom distributor,” he says. “People would come to my house in the middle of the night to get condoms.” Paul returned to the United States energized to study infectious diseases. While working as a computer technician, he got a second undergraduate degree in biology from Hofstra and then a master of public health degree from Emory University, where his thesis examined Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in AIDS patients in an Atlanta hospital. After a stint at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Paul became a research specialist for HSPH Department of Nutrition projects based in Tanzania: “For the first time I learned the importance of nutrition in the fight against HIV/AIDS.” Now an HSPH doctoral student, Paul has a clear goal: “There are many research questions to ask in the global fight against AIDS. Mine will center on nutritional epidemiology in sub- Saharan Africa.”

Ida Hatoum

Doctoral student, Department of Nutrition

When she was in the second grade, Ida Hatoum imagined that some day there would be a magic weightloss pill. Over the years Ida has maintained a consistent interest in weight, body image, physical activity, and nutrition. While a psychology major at Boston University, and coxswain for BU varsity men’s crew, Ida conducted a study examining the links between media and men’s self-esteem and another study looking at the messages directed at girls reading Seventeen magazine. Following a year in AmeriCorps, she enrolled in the master’s program in the HSPH Department of Society, Human Development, and Health: “I came here because the courses seemed very cutting edge and because I was interested in the program in women, gender, and health.” Ida began working at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center as a master’s student and did her thesis on predictors of weight loss after gastric bypass surgery. Now a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition, Ida’s focus has evolved toward the biological basis of obesity. She calls a course on the molecular basis of metabolic disorders a “life-changing experience.” One of the inaugural winners of the Pritzker Fellowship for Obesity Research, Ida plans to investigate how fat cells send signals about weight. She hopes to develop a dissertation topic that integrates her interests in nutrition, epidemiology, and biology.