Researcher Profiles

Dr. Saima Hasnin is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Community Nutrition at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work focuses on creating sustainable ways to prevent childhood obesity and promote healthy development in young children. She earned her master's in Nutrition and completed her PhD in Human Sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Hasnin's research explores how childcare environments and federal nutrition programs can better support children's health. She develops practical tools and evidence-based interventions suitable for early care and education settings with limited resources, and is passionate about reducing childhood health disparities.

Dr. Jilcott Pitts is a Professor at East Carolina University's Department of Public Health. Born and raised in Windsor, North Carolina, her research is focused on examining and addressing policy and environmental factors related to obesity and nutrition. She has taught research methods, evidence-based medicine, and project management courses. More recently, her work has focused on examining validity and sensitivity of a device to assess skin carotenoids — the Veggie Meter® — as an approximation for fruit and vegetable intake in public health nutrition studies. She previously worked for World Harvest Mission in Uganda, designing and evaluating nutrition programs for malnourished and at-risk children.

Bio coming soon. Dr. Radtke is a lead author on the standardized protocol paper for the Veggie Meter® and a co-coordinator of the CARROtS Collaborative. Contact virginia_stage@ncsu.edu to add a full bio.

Dr. Scherr's research focuses on the application of noninvasive biomarkers to assess dietary behavior and evaluate nutrition interventions, particularly centered on the use of skin carotenoid assessment using the Veggie Meter® as an objective indicator of fruit and vegetable intake across diverse populations and community settings. Through this research, she has contributed to the growing evidence supporting skin carotenoid measurement as a practical, field-based tool for nutrition surveillance, program evaluation, and behavior change research. Her work also explores how objective biomarkers can be integrated into community and school-based nutrition education programs to improve understanding of dietary behaviors and intervention effectiveness.

Virginia C. Stage is an Associate Professor, Nutrition Education & Behavior Specialist, Registered Dietitian, and Director of The FEEd (Feeding & Eating Education) Lab at NC State University. Her work focuses on empowering childhood teachers, families, and communities with evidence-based strategies to improve children’s dietary quality through early education, exposure, and access to healthy foods in early care and education settings. Dr. Stage began investigating the viability of using the Veggie Meter® as an assessment method for young children (3–5 years) in 2018. She co-leads the CARROtS Collaborative, an international working group that meets bi-annually to discuss new Veggie Meter® research and challenges.