Katherine (Kate) Bauer is an Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is a member of the University's Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and the Caswell Diabetes Institute, an affiliate of the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative, and a Faculty Expert with Poverty Solutions. During the 2022-2023 academic year, Dr. Bauer served as the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Food Security at the University of Guelph.

 

Dr. Bauer received a BA with High Honors in Psychology from Oberlin College, an MS in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD in Behavioral Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. She completed a Post-doctoral Fellowship with the NIH-supported Minnesota Obesity Prevention Training Program. 

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Dr. Bauer's research focuses on understanding social, personal, and behavioral influences on children's eating and growth. She is particularly interested in how families influence children's eating, as well as the policies and systems that support positive parenting and family environments with respect to food and eating. Her current research projects seek to elucidate how factors such as parents' self-regulation capacity, parent-directed weight stigma, and food insecurity and food assistance impact family nutrition and health.

 

The Bauer Research Group is currently supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies, and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.​

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Dr. Bauer can be reached by email at: kwbauer @ umich.edu