Pawloski is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Global and Community Health in the College of Health and Human Services. She studied biology and chemistry at Texas A&M, and received a master’s degree in anthropology from Indiana University. In 1999, she received the Ph.D. in nutritional anthropology from Indiana University. As a Fulbright Scholar in 1997, she conducted a study examining the nutritional status, growth, and development of adolescent girls from the Segou Region in Mali, West Africa. She has since conducted research concerning biocultural aspects of health and nutrition among Malian adolescent immigrants living in Paris, France, nutritional behaviors and growth among Nicaraguan adolescent girls, and obesity and growth issues among Thai adolescents. In 2005, Pawloski received a second Fulbright to continue her study of nutrition and dietary behaviors among adolescents in suburban Bangkok, Thailand. With a grant from the University of the District of Columbia, she recently completed a project which examines the nutritional status, behavior, and knowledge of 4th and 5th grade students from two Washington, DC, schools. Pawloski has presented her research findings nationally and internationally and has published several manuscripts related to nutrition and growth and development in peer reviewed journals. She coordinates the Nutrition Certificate Program, the Nutrition Minor, and the Masters of Health Science Concentration in International Health in the College of Health and Human Services, and is also an Associate Faculty Member in the Center for Global Studies.

Watch Lisa Pawloski present "The Nutrition Transition—Is Obesity becoming a Global Crisis?"