Kelsey Arroyo’s interest sparked in the mind-body connection when a family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a master’s degree student in health promotion sciences, she focuses on integrating research with clinical work in healthy lifestyle interventions. She sees herself working at an academic medical center within an integrated care system. Read more about her experiences at UConn.
Where did you study as an undergraduate? What was your major?
I studied at Hobart and William Smith Colleges as an undergraduate student, where I majored in psychology and minored in health professions with a concentration in mind and body.
Why did you decide to go to graduate school?
My ultimate goal has always been to become a clinical psychologist. I decided to apply to the Master’s in Health Promotion Sciences program at UConn because I felt that it would be a fantastic stepping-stone to help me reach my career goal. In undergraduate work, I developed varying interests in eating behavior, physical activity, weight loss, and science communication and wanted an opportunity to explore how I could integrate these interests and develop my career as both a researcher and clinician. I felt that applying to work in Dr. Pagoto’s Center for mHealth and Social Media as a graduate assistant would be a perfect chance to help me solidify my career path, as our interests are greatly aligned.
Who is your advisor? What is your field of research?
Dr. Sherry Pagoto is my advisor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences. As a graduate assistant in her lab, I have had the opportunity to work on her projects that aim to leverage social media and mHealth tools as intervention platforms that help promote positive behavior change such as healthy eating, increasing physical activity and sun safety practices. I am particularly interested in how health misinformation is disseminated in the media and how misinformation influences health behaviors. I am currently working on a project that examines how participants engage and share misinformation in a Facebook-delivered skin cancer prevention intervention. In the future, I hope to develop a program of research that focuses on how to effectively develop tailored behavioral weight loss interventions using novel health communication strategies.
Name one aspect of your work that you like.
I enjoy that I am able to examine how people engage with intervention content in real-time especially throughout a weight loss journey. Research that examines how participants engage with intervention content that is delivered on social media and other mHealth platforms allows us to understand the challenges and experiences they are facing at that moment by analyzing their engagement such as comments or reactions. On the clinical side of things, this also allows us to develop more just-in-time interventions and address people’s needs sooner rather than later. I find that to be very exciting.
In your opinion, what is your greatest accomplishment so far?
I think my greatest accomplishment so far is getting into a Ph.D. program in clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida!
When do you expect to get your degree? What then?
I am expecting to get my master’s degree at UConn in August. After defending my thesis, I’ll be starting a Ph.D. program at the University of Florida and have the role as a graduate assistant in their Health Promotion Lab.
Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?
I really enjoy hiking and being outdoors. I also like to draw and paint in my spare time!
