Andrea Bersamin: BLaST Scientist of the Month

October 2, 2019

University Relations

Andrea Bersamin. Photo courtesy of BLaST.
Andrea Bersamin. Photo courtesy of BLaST.


Andrea Bersamin has been named the BLaST Scientist of the Month for October 2019. Bersamin is an associate professor in the Department of Biology and Wildlife and the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at UAF. Bersamin was a faculty pilot project awardee for 2018-2019. She earned her Ph.D. in nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and completed her postdoctoral training in cardiovascular disease prevention and epidemiology at the Stanford School of Medicine. She has spent most of her life in California and has lived in Mexico and Japan. She enjoys hiking and biking with her chocolate lab, Bogart, racket sports, growing vegetables and cooking.

Bersamin’s research focuses broadly on preventing nutrition-related health disparities among underserved, minority youth and their families. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how the social-ecological context of communities promotes or hinders health and health behaviors; designing and evaluating culturally grounded community-based interventions to prevent obesity and improve diet quality; and enhancing local food systems, particularly traditional food systems, to improve food security, and food sovereignty. Currently she is conducting a cluster randomized trial to prevent obesity among Head Start students in 12 Yup’ik communities in southwestern Alaska. She's interested in understanding whether promoting plants and berries from the land through a subsistence life-style can help children meet the recommendations for vegetables and fruit.

BLaST URE Courtney Hill, left, with Andrea Bersamin, collecting data in Bethel, Alaska, November 2018. Photo courtesy of BLaST
BLaST URE Courtney Hill, left, with Andrea Bersamin, collecting data in Bethel, Alaska, November 2018. Photo courtesy of BLaST


Bersamin enjoys mentoring undergraduates and appreciates the enthusiasm and creativity they bring to her research group. She tries to integrate students into all aspects of her research including study design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. She has mentored 14 undergraduates including BLAST Undergraduate Research Experience student Courtney Hill, whose research focused on validating the “veggie-meter” in a Yup’ik population, and BLAST scholar Jennie Humphrey, whose research focuses on promoting food sovereignty in a Native community in Southeast Alaska.

Bersamin currently teaches Introduction to Human Nutrition (BIOL 120X) and Principles of Epidemiology (BIOL 335) at UAF. She strives to enhance students’ health and scientific literacy and emphasizes research methods in both of these courses.