Professional Interests

Michael Puglisi received his Ph.D. from the Nutritional Sciences Department at the University of Connecticut in 2008.  He has worked as a Registered Dietitian in the clinical setting and has a research background in sports nutrition, lipoprotein metabolism, inflammation, and insulin resistance.  He has been working in public health since 2011, starting in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) for 6 years before returning to UConn, where he currently serves as Coordinator of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) for the state of Connecticut, as well as the SNAP-Ed Program in Nutritional Sciences. These programs offer nutrition education in low-income communities throughout the state that are predominantly from underserved populations: over 75% of adult participants in EFNEP receiving education on nutrition, physical activity, food resource management and food security were from underserved populations, with 59% identifying themselves as Hispanic or Latino. These programs are adapted to be culturally sensitive, with peer educators, hired from the community, leading hands-on classes (many in Spanish) incorporating recipes and physical activity practices based on culturally-informed data.

Mike’s research focuses on improving food security and physical activity in low-income populations, with recent efforts on increasing the use of trails in Connecticut as part of the Multi-Use Trail Research Team.  Out of this project, he was able to secure funding to assess barriers and facilitators to physical activity for Hispanic adults in Connecticut.  His research collaborations include assessments of mobile food pantries and tailored nutrition education with Ock Chun with predominantly Hispanic participants in Windham, assessing barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and physical activity for Black adults with Loneke Blackman Carr, toddler feeding interventions with low-income women in East Hartford with Valerie Duffy and an Extension grant led by Shuresh Ghimire incorporating traditional food production with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Recent CHHD-related grants

• Competitive Capacity Grants (internal).  “Assessment and Understanding of Physical Activity Disparities for Hispanic Adults in Connecticut”. Source: USDA-NIFA.
• United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. “Mashantucket Pequot Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program.”
• Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, internal funding. “Formative research to develop a weight management intervention for ethnically diverse black adults.”
• United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.  “Mashantucket Pequot Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program.”

Recent CHHD-related publications

• Heller RL, Chiero JD, Puglisi M, Mobley AR.  Feeding infants and toddlers: A qualitative study to determine parental education needs. Child Obes. 2019;15(7):443-450.
• Kagan I, Gershman H, Romo-Palafox M, Puglisi M, Duffy V, Harris JL. Low-income parents identify barriers to responsive feeding recommendations and resourcefulness in feeding their toddlers: preliminary findings from a qualitative study. Presented at Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, October 20, 2020.