Department of Nutrition
Margaret R. Savoca, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Office: 336-256-0322
email: mrsavoca@uncg.edu
Education and Positions
- B.S. Douglass College, Rutgers University, 1974
- M.S., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2000
- Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2002
- Research Fellow, Medical College of Georgia, Dept. of Pediatrics, Georgia
Prevention Institute, Augusta, 2003-2004
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Medical College of Georgia, Department of Pediatrics,
Georgia Prevention Institute.
Honors
2006 Fellow of the Sixth Annual Summer Institute on RCT Involving Behavioral Interventions. Sponsored by the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, National Institutes of Health
Research Interests
- Understand how young African American adults view hypertension and health promotion in order to find the most
effective ways to prevent the development of hypertension among this group.
- Design a new approach to understanding individual meal patterns that can be used in clinical and research settings.
The approach will reflect the multidimensional aspects of daily eating and help to set realistic goals for healthful food choices.
- Identify way to help health care practitioners improve the hypertension self-management of young African
American adults who have been diagnosed with hypertension.
- Apply qualitative research methods to nutrition education and health literacy research.
Current Research
- Disseminate findings about how young African Americans and their mothers view hypertension and health
promotion by contrasting the observations of those having high risk of HTN with those with low risk.
- Develop and validate the Meal Pattern Timeline, a innovative dietary assessment tool for measuring and
modifying the daily food habits of individuals in clinical, health promotion, and research settings.
- Develop and validate a new Hypertension Knowledge and Beliefs Questionnaire designed by and for young African Americans.
Selected Publications
Savoca MR, Quandt, SA, et al. Views of hypertension among young African Americans who vary in their risk of developing hypertension. Ethnicity & Disease. 2008;In press.
- Savoca MR, Evans, CD, et al. A four-day sodium-controlled diet reduces variability of overnight sodium excretion in free-living adolescents. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2006;107:490-494.
- Savoca, MR, Mackey LM, et al. The association of ambulatory blood pressure and caffeine in adolescents. American Journal of Hypertension. 2005;18:116-120.
- Savoca MR, Evans CD, Wilson ME, Harshfield GA, Ludwig DA. The association of caffeinated beverages with blood pressure in adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adol Med. 2004;158(5):473-477.
- Savoca MR, Miller CK, and Quandt SA. Profiles of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the extremes of glycemic control. Soc. Sci. Med., Jun 2004;58(12):2655-2666.
- Savoca MR, Miller CK, and Ludwig DL. Food habits are related to glycemic control among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 2004;104(4):560-566.
- Savoca M, Miller C. Food selection and eating patterns: themes found among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Nutr. Educ., 2001;33:224-233.