Muzi Na
Broadhurst Career Development Professor for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Muzi Na’s research program explores the mechanisms leading to health disparities, particularly with interests in social and behavioral determinants, such as food insecurity, diet and dietary behavior, psychosocial exposures, in relation to nutritional outcomes, mental wellbein
University Park, PA 16802
PhD, MHS
- Food insecurity
- Feeding behaviors
- Mental health
- Sleep and restless legs syndrome (RLS)
Dr. Muzi Na is a nutritional epidemiologist and her primary research interest is to understand the mechanisms leading to health disparities in disadvantaged populations, particularly with interests in modifiable factors such as food insecurity, dietary behavior, psychosocial exposures, and their complex relationship to mental and sleep health in both domestic and international populations.
Food insecurity and mental health:
- Diet and stress responses in low-income rural adults under the dynamics of food insecurity. NIH-Penn State CTSI. 2018-2021 (Status: ongoing; Role: PI)
- Food insecurity and mental wellbeing. FAO Voices of the Hungry Project. 2016-2021. (Status: ongoing; Role: PI)
Dietary and feeding behaviors:
- Strategic layering to improve household gender dynamics for optimal nutrition in Niger. USAID & CRS, Niger. 2021 – 2023 (Status: pending; Role: mPI)
- Assessment of an egg campaign and feeding behaviors in young children in Mozambique. GAIN. 2020 (Status: terminated due to COVID-19; Role: Co-PI)
- Regional landscape analysis of trends and predictors of young children’s diets in selected countries in UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Region. UNICEF. 2019 – 2020 (Status: completed; Role: PI)
Nutritional risk factors and consequences of RLS:
- RLS in pregnancy and fetal growth outcomes. Data Use Agreement with NICHD. 2020 – 2022 (Status: ongoing; Role: PI)
- Prepregnancy risk factors of incident RLS during pregnancy. Data Use Agreement with NICHD. 2019 – 2020 (Status: completed; Role: Co-PI)
Related News and Media Mentions
- Read the blog by Drs. Muzi Na, Emily Hohman, and Jennifer Savage Williams on Food insecurity in Pennsylvania during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Penn State News. Eating dried fruit may be linked with better diet quality and health markers. November 30, 2020
- Penn State News. Race and ethnicity may not play role in restless leg syndrome during pregnancy. November 12, 2020
- Penn State News. Suicide and self-harm risk is nearly triple in people with restless leg syndrome. August 23, 2019
- Penn State News. Nutrition professor named Broadhurst Career Development Professor. August 5, 2019