Oak-Hee Park, Ph.D., RD (South Korea)

Research

Oak-Hee Park, Ph.D., RD (South Korea) has been conducting various research projects related to nutrition, food, health, and consumer behavior. Her current research areas are focused on Nutrition Education Intervention, Food Environment, Public Health, Obesity Prevention, Food as Medicine, and Sustainable Food Systems. Dr. Park worked on the East Lubbock Promise Neighborhood Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education from 2013 to 2019. As a Co-PI, she established the first community-based family cooking program for East Lubbock citizens. She has actively led an obesity prevention project (Sustainable Life Skills to Reduce Obesity) for adolescents at a Title I school to promote individual’s self-efficacy about healthy cooking that may encourage adolescents to reduce risky eating behavior, leveraging body acceptance and mindful eating practices for the prevention of obesity. Dr. Park and her research team have expanded the obesity prevention project to rural schools to educate the next generations who will be models for healthy lifestyle movement in rural communities in west Texas.

As a Lead PI, she obtained the United Sorghum Checkoff Program’s funding to investigate consumers’ acceptance of sorghum as part of healthy diets as well as to test various sorghum-based foods by collaborating with TTU Hospitality Services and sorghum farmers. Dr. Park and her team’s next step will examine sorghum’s metabolic effects to prevent obesity and diabetes. Her goal for this sorghum research is to establish sorghum whole grain into institutional food systems and promote wholegrain consumption through nutrition education along with community partners. Other ongoing/past research projects include “Nutrition Bench-to-Community Engaged Scholars in Texas (Nutrition BEST) REEU Program,” “Ugly Fruits and Vegetables/Sustainable Food Systems Research,” “College Student’s Hunger, Resources and Recovery,” and “Bytes to bites: Community Healthy Eating Project.”

Selected Publications

1. Park, O., Sosa, A.*, Niraula, S., Maki, K.*, Thompson, L., & Moustaid-Moussa, N. (2025). Exploring college students’ acceptance of and behavioral intentions toward different sorghum-based foods. Foods, 14(6), 1065.
2. Korir, J.*, Gichohi-Wainaina, W.N., Park, O., Kwon, S, Colwell, M.J., & Oldewage-Theron W. (2025). Mapping the drivers of multisectoral nutrition governance and its link to nutrition outcomes in Kenya: A qualitative inquiry. Nutrients, 17(2), 209.
3. Sosa-Holwerda, A.*, Park, O., Albracht-Schulte, K., Niraula, S., Thompson, L., & Oldewage-Theron, W. (2024). The Role of artificial intelligence in nutrition research: A scoping review. Nutrients, 16(13), 2066.
4. Islam, T.*, Albracht-Schulte, K., Ramalingam, L., Schlabritz-Lutsevich, N., Park, O., Zabet-Moghaddam, M., Kalupahana., N.S., Moustaid-Moussa, N. (2023). Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of polyphenols in adipose tissue: role of gut microbiota, intestinal barrier integrity and zinc homeostasis. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 115, Volume 115,109242, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2022.109242.
5. Yuan, J., Yi, S.*, Williams, H.*, & Park, O. (2019). US Consumers’ perceptions of imperfect “Ugly” produce. British Food Journal, 121(11), 2666-2682.
6. Jayarathne, S.*, Stulld, A. J., Park, O., Kim, J. H., Thompson, L., & Moustaid-Moussa, N. (2019). Protective Effects of Anthocyanins in Obesity-Associated Inflammation and Changes in Gut Microbiome. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, 63(20), 1900149.
7. Murimi, M., Nguyen, B.*, Moyeda-Carabaza, A.F.*, Lee, H.*, & Park, O. (2019). Factors that contribute to effective online nutrition education interventions: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 77(10), 663-690.
8. Park, O., Brown, R.*, Murimi, M., & Hoover, L. (2018). Let’s Cook, Eat, and Talk: A community-based family nutrition, cooking, and communication program to encourage healthy eating behaviors and interactive family mealtime for an underserved neighborhood in Texas, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 50(8), 836-844.
9. Jayarathne, S.*, Koboziev, I., Park, O., Oldewage, W., Shen, L., & Moustaid-Moussa, N. (2017). Anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity properties of bioactive food components: Effects on adipose tissue. Preventive Nutrition and Food Science, 22(4), 251-262.