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Ashlea Braun, PhD, RD
Health Promotion Sciences

Ashlea Braun, Ph.D., RD

Assistant Professor

(405) 271-8001 ext. 18001

Ashlea-Braun@ouhsc.edu

Ashlea Braun PhD, RD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences. Dr. Braun brings over ten years of experience as Registered Dietitian, and completed her PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Clinical and Translational Sciences at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2020. Her graduate training centered on the development, implementation, and evaluation of multi-component behavioral interventions designed to target dietary and lifestyle-related behaviors to improve cancer prevention and control. This included the use and evaluation of motivational interviewing, for which she is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network for Trainers. She then completed a position as a postdoctoral scholar, gaining exposure to policy- and environmental-related determinants of health behavior. Thereafter, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Oklahoma State University where she received funding as PI or MPI from the Health Promotion Research Center, the Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology (OCAST), Oklahoma Shared Clinical & Translational Resource (OSCTR), and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Her research leverages behavior change approaches and assessment strategies previously validated and employed in substance use literature, including motivational interviewing, to understand and improve health behavior, dietary patterns, weight, and/or cancer risk.

Dr. Braun seeks to identify ways to support individuals in pursuit of behavior change despite increasingly challenging environmental, social, and psychological factors that inhibit or impede change. Her research program and expertise focuses on understanding the bidirectional relationship between food and behavior and leveraging this information to design behavior change interventions. This includes a particular emphasis on specific dietary components of interest (e.g., dietary fiber, ultra-processed foods), as well as the use of autonomy-supportive and empirically-driven approaches to behavior change, including motivational interviewing.

Education:

Degree-Granting Institutions

  • The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, BS with Distinction, Allied Health (Medical Dietetics), 2011
  • The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, MS, Allied Health, 2017
  • The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, PhD, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Clinical and Translational Sciences, 2020

Postgraduate Training

  • Postdoctoral Scholar, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Jan 2021 – Jun 2021

Select Publications:

Select Publications:

  1.  Braun A, Houck J. Advanced Motivational Interviewing Education in Nutrition and Dietetics Improves Use of Motivational Interviewing Among Graduate-Level Dietetic Students. J Allied Health. In Press.
  2. Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia P, Smith J, Pavuk C, Leotta J, Pike K, Presley CJ, Krok-Schoen J, Braun A, Zhang FF, Spees CK. How an Intervention with Person-centered Nutrition Counseling and Home Delivered Medically Tailored Meals Created Active Coping with Behavior Change for Vulnerable Patients with Lung Cancer. Support Care Cancer. 2024 Jun 13;32(7):428.
  3. McClanahan K, Sanchez PG, Gant K, Joyce J, Braun A. Perceptions of Preventable Cancer Burden Among US-Based Firefighters: A Mixed Methods Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 2024 May 1;56(5):300-9.
  4. Huff K and Braun A, Salvaggio MR, McGough P, Frank-Pearce SG, Kendzor DE, Bui TC. Promoting HPV vaccination in people with HIV: Factors to consider. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(7):5345.
  5. Braun A, Portner J, Xu M, Weaver L, Pratt K, Darragh A, Spees CK. Preliminary Support for the Use of Motivational Interviewing to Improve Parent/Adult Caregiver Behavior for Obesity and Cancer Prevention. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(6):4726.
  6. Braun A, Hartwell M, Montgomery M, Emerson S, Morris K, Greiner B. Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity in the United States: A cross-sectional evaluation of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Obes Res Clin Pract. Available online 28 October 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2022.10.009.
  7. Braun A, Hill E, Gallo S, Landry MJ, Vitolins M, Papoutsakis C, Jimenez EY, Rozga M. Research at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: What, How, and Why? J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022;122(11):2150-2162.
  8. Good M, Braun AC, Taylor CA, Spees CK. US adults fall short of the dietary guidelines for cancer prevention regardless of BMI category. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022;122(9):1737-43.
  9. Shrodes J, Williams A, Nolan TS, Radabaugh J, Braun A, Kline D, Zhao S, Brock G, Garner J, Spees CK, Joseph JJ. Feasibility of Cooking Matters for Diabetes: A 6-week Randomized, Cooking and Diabetes Self-Management Education Intervention. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022 Aug 6;S2212-2672(22)00720-1.
  10. Shrodes J, Williams A, Radabaugh J, Braun A, Kline D, Zhao S, Brock G, Nolan TS, Garner J, Spees CK, Joseph JJ. Outcomes of Cooking Matter for Diabetes: A 6-week Randomized, Cooking and Diabetes Self-Management Education Intervention. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022 Aug 10;S2212-2672(22)00719-5.