Jayne A. Fulkerson, PhD

A psychologist by training, Dr. Fulkerson is a professor and UMN McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Nursing. Her NIH-funded research programs focus on measurement, instrument validation and developing and testing family-based obesity prevention programs through randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Her goals are to prevent childhood obesity by engaging whole family units in behavior change and by making changes in the home food environment, ensuring measures developed for use in behavioral and health science research are valid and reliable, and promoting health equity in research to promote healthier communities. Her research portfolio of R21 and R01 grants has been funded by a variety of NIH institutes, including NIDDK, NHLBI, and NCI. She has published over 160 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. She is also the director of the Center for Child and Family Health Promotion Research in the School of Nursing.

Dr. Fulkerson is passionate about the benefits of interdisciplinary training and team science and strives to help scientists at all levels be the best scientists they can be. She is Co-Director of Education and Training Programs at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) whose mission is to provide clinical translational science research training and education to advance researchers through the career development continuum, from the undergraduate experience to an independent faculty researcher. She is also the Director of the CTSI’s TRACT TL1 Program and Translational Research Development Program—both are programs for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. She is also an affiliate professor in the School of Public Health’s Epidemiology and Community Health Division.

• Family-based health promotion in community settings
• Child/adolescent obesity prevention through family meals at home
• Research methodology, evaluation, measurement and instrument development
• Food at Home Study

• Society of Psychologists in Leadership
• National Academies of Practice
• Child & Family Health Promotion Research Center
• International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
• American Psychological Association

• Distinguished Fellow, National Academies of Practice, 2021
• Cora Meidl Siehl Endowed Chair, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 2018-
• Best Randomized Controlled Trial, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition, and Physical Activity, 2016
• Outstanding Graduate Advisor, School of Nursing, 2015
• Visiting Professor, I-TOPPS Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014
• Recipient, award for Out-of-the-Box Thinking, DAISY Foundation, School of Nursing, 2013

Hoffman, S. J., Vukovich, M. M., Peterson, B. L., Fulkerson, J. A., Gewirtz, A. H., Fredkove, W. M., . . . Gaugler, J. E. (2024). A cross-sectional analysis of factors promoting intergenerational resilience in adolescent youth with refugee status. Family & Community Health, 47(4), 288-293. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC11335304 doi: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000410

Lee, J., Helgeson, E., Horning, M. L., Elgesma, K. M., Kubik, M. Y., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2024). Food insecurity and changes in diet quality and body mass index z-Scores among elementary school students. Childhood Obesity (Print), 20(7), 508-516. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC11535459 doi: 10.1089/chi.2023.0185

Fernandez, M. A., Maximova, K., Fulkerson, J. A., & Raine, K. D. (2024). Associations between cooking skills, cooking with processed foods, and health: a cross-sectional study. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism = Physiologie Appliquee, Nutrition et Metabolisme, 49(3), 330-339.  doi: 10.1139/apnm-2023-0293

Loth, K. A., Ji, Z., Kohli, N., Fisher, J. O., Fulkerson, J. A. (2023). Parents of preschoolers use multiple strategies to feed their children: Findings from an observational video pilot study. Appetite, 187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106615

Baltaci, A., Laska, M. N., Horning, M., Hearst, M., Lee, J., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2023). Parent meal self-efficacy and practices in households with healthy home food environments in the face of economic hardship. Appetite, 190, 107029. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.107029.

Fulkerson, J. A., Horning, M., Barr-Anderson, D. J., Sidebottom, A., Linde, J. A., Lindberg, R., . . . & Freese, R. L. (2022). Weight outcomes of NU-HOME: A randomized controlled trial to prevent obesity among rural children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-022-01260-w

Horning, M. L., Friend, S., Freese, R. L., Barr-Anderson, D. J., Linde, J. A., Sidebottom, A., . . . & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Parent weight, diet, active living outcomes, and food-related outcomes of the family-focused NU-HOME randomized controlled trial. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(5), 751-760.el. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2022.10.009

Kramer-Kostecka, E. N., Fulkerson, J. A., Sherwood, N. E., Barr-Anderson, D. J., Larson, N., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2022). What brings young adults to the yoga mat? Cross-sectional associations between motivational profiles and physical and psychological health among participants in the Project EAT-IV survey. Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 28(8), 664-673. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC9419988. https://doi.org/10.1089/jicm.2021.0445 

Linde, J. A., Horning Dehmer, M. L., Lee, J., Friend, S., Flattum, C., Arcan, C., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Associations of parent dietary role modeling with children's diet quality in a rural setting: Baseline data from the NU-HOME study. Appetite, 174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106007

Lee, J., Friend, S., Horning, M. L., Linde, J. A., Flattum, C., Lindberg, R., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Are patterns of family evening meal practices associated with child and parent diet quality and weight-related outcomes? Appetite, 171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.105937 

Grace, S. M., Barr-Anderson, D. J., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Exploring associations of household chaos and child health behaviors in rural families. American Journal of Health Behavior, 46(1), 49-59. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.46.1.5

Horning, M. L., Friend, S., Lee, J., Flattum, C., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Family characteristics associated with preparing and eating more family evening meals at home. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 122(1), 121-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2021.07.002

Martin, C. L., McMorris, B. J., Eisenberg, M. E., Sieving, R. E., Porta, C. M., Mathiason, M. A., . . . & Fulkerson, J. A. (2022). Weight status among Minnesota Hispanic or Latino/a youth: An exploration of protective factors. American Journal of Health Promotion, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171221120912 

Flattum, C., Friend, S., Horning, M., Lindberg, R., Beaudette, J., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2021). Family-focused obesity prevention program implementation in urban versus rural communities: A case study. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1915. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11967-3 PubMed ID: 34674674.

Mason, S. M., Frazier, P. A., Renner, L. M., Fulkerson, J. A., & Rich-Edwards, J. W. (2021). Childhood abuse-related weight gain: An investigation of potential resilience factors. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 62(1), 77-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.07.011 PubMed ID: 34629199.

Innovation in Measurement for Diet-Related Disease Research: Optimizing Utility and Reach to Reduce Health Disparities
Principal Investigator: Fulkerson, Jayne Allyn
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NCI (R01)
Award Dates: 2020 - 2025

Evaluating Diet, Food Insecurity, and Food Purchasing Outcomes of a Full-Service Mobile Food Market with a Randomized Cluster Trial
Principal Investigator: Horning Dehmer, Melissa Lynn
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NINR (R01)
Award Dates: 2022 – 2026

Examination of the Longitudinal Impact of Within-and Between-Day Fluctuations in Food Parenting Practices on Child Dietary Intake
Principal Investigator: Loth, Katie
Sponsoring Organization: NIH/NICHD (R01)
Award Dates: 2023 - 2028

University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UMN CTSI)
Principal Investigator: Blazar, Bruce R
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NCATS (U01)
Award Dates: 2018 - 2023

NRSA Training Core
Principal Investigator: Fulkerson, Jayne Allyn
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NCATS (NRSA)
Award Dates: 2019 - 2023

New Ulm at HOME - (NU-HOME)
Principal Investigator: Fulkerson, Jayne Allyn
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NHLBI (R01)
Award Dates: 2016 - 2022

School Nurse-Directed Secondary Obesity Prevention for Elementary School Children
Principal Investigator: Kubik, Martha Y
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NINR (R01)
Award Dates: 2013 - 2019

Healthy Home Offerings via the Mealtime Environment (HOME Plus)
Principal Investigator: Fulkerson, Jayne Allyn
Sponsoring Organization: NIH NIDDK (R01)
Award Dates: 2010 - 2016

• Family-based health promotion in community settings
• Child/adolescent obesity prevention through family meals at home
• Research methodology, evaluation, measurement and instrument development