Amanda C. McClain

Amanda McClain’s mixed methods research employs community-based and social science perspectives to investigate how the stress of marginalization, especially food insecurity, shapes food choice and dietary intake and gets ‘under the skin’ to impact allostatic load and cardiometabolic risk among low-income and historically-marginalized populations, particularly Hispanic/Latine communities. Simultaneously, her research aims to identify and leverage existing cultural, social, human, and material capacities (i.e., assets), as a part of behavior-change interventions embedded in existing infrastructure (e.g., federally-qualified health centers, food assistance programs), to mitigate the stress of marginalization and promote food security, nutritious diets, and cardiometabolic health equity. She is the Primary Investigator for several research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. McClain serves on the advisory committees for two San Diego community-based organizations addressing food access and food insecurity, including Project New Village, a BIPOC-led, grassroots nonprofit. Dr. McClain is also a core member of Project New Village’s Urban Agriculture Workgroup, which has developed necessary infrastructure to promote equitable access to local produce in an historically-marginalized area of San Diego through support from Danone Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.