Cristina Gago | Profiles RNS

Cristina Gago, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor (appointment pending)

Boston University School of Public Health

Community Health Sciences

PhD, Harvard University

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Websites

	ResearchGate
	Google Scholar
	NCBI

ORCID : 0000-0003-3159-705X

Dr. Cristina Gago applies implementation science principles and behavior change theory to the evaluation of community health, food assistance, and social service interventions, such as those offered by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Head Start (a federally funded early childhood education program for families with low income). Through her partnership-grounded, translational research practice, Cristina aims to identify actionable opportunities to increase health and social service accessibility and uptake, by improving the quality of intervention implementation.

Before joining the Boston University School of Public Health, Cristina trained as a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone's Institute for Excellence in Health Equity, where her research centered around the evaluation of health behavior change programming in the context of a large, Brooklyn-based federally qualified health center. Previously, Cristina earned her PhD at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, where her doctoral work examined key facilitators and barriers caregivers enrolled in Head Start and WIC face in eating healthfully and accessing health promotion resources for young children.

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

Gago C, Aftosmes-Tobio A, Beckerman-Hsu JP, Oddleifson C, Garcia EA, Lansburg K, Figueroa R, Yu X, Kitos N, Torrico M, Leonard J, Jurkowski JK, Mattei J, Kenney EL, Haneuse S, Davison KK. Evaluation of a cluster-randomized controlled trial: Communities for Healthy Living, family-centered obesity prevention program for Head Start parents and children. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2023 Jan 11; 20(1):4. PMID: 36631869; PMCID: PMC9832428; DOI: 10.1186/s12966-022-01400-2;

Gago C, Colchamiro R, May K, Rimm EB, Kenney EL. Caregivers' Perceived Impact of WIC's Temporary Cash-Value Benefit (CVB) Increases on Fruit and Vegetable Purchasing, Consumption, and Access in Massachusetts. Nutrients. 2022 Nov 22; 14(23). PMID: 36500976; PMCID: PMC9739164; DOI: 10.3390/nu14234947;

Grafft N, Aftosmes-Tobio A, Gago C, Lansburg K, Beckerman-Hsu J, Trefry B, Kumanyika S, Davison K. Adaptation and implementation outcomes of a parenting program for low-income, ethnically diverse families delivered virtually versus in-person. Transl Behav Med. 2022 Nov 21; 12(11):1065-1075. PMID: 36318233; PMCID: PMC9677462; DOI: 10.1093/tbm/ibac077;

Vercammen K, Grummon AH, Zatz LY, Gago CM, Blocksidge M, Hua SV, Bleich SN, Stone S, Kenney E, Colchamiro R, Rimm EB. A Descriptive Analysis of Redemption Patterns by Vendor Type Among: WIC Participants in Massachusetts. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023 Apr; 123(4):626-636.e2. PMID: 36372729; PMCID: PMC10187795; DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2022.09.011;

Gago CM, Wynne JO, Moore MJ, Cantu-Aldana A, Vercammen K, Zatz LY, May K, Andrade T, Mendoza T, Stone SL, Mattei J, Davison KK, Rimm EB, Colchamiro R, Kenney EL. Caregiver Perspectives on Underutilization of WIC: A Qualitative Study. Pediatrics. 2022 Feb 01; 149(2). PMID: 35039867; PMCID: PMC8934047; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-053889;

Gago CM, Jurkowski J, Beckerman-Hsu JP, Aftosmes-Tobio A, Figueroa R, Oddleifson C, Mattei J, Kenney EL, Haneuse S, Davison KK. Exploring a theory of change: Are increases in parental empowerment associated with healthier weight-related parenting practices? Soc Sci Med. 2022 Mar; 296:114761. PMID: 35123371; PMCID: PMC8894077; DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114761;

Gago CM, Lopez-Cepero A, O'Neill J, Tamez M, Tucker K, Orengo JFR, Mattei J. Association of a Single-Item Self-Rated Diet Construct With Diet Quality Measured With the Alternate Healthy Eating Index. Front Nutr. 2021; 8:646694. PMID: 34026807; PMCID: PMC8131508; DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2021.646694;

Beckerman-Hsu JP, Gago C, Aftosmes-Tobio A, Jurkowski JM, Lansburg K, Leonard J, Torrico M, Haneuse S, Subramanian SV, Kenney EL, Davison KK. Acceptability and appropriateness of a novel parent-staff co-leadership model for childhood obesity prevention in Head Start: a qualitative interview study. BMC Public Health. 2021 Jan 22; 21(1):201. PMID: 33482774; PMCID: PMC7825243; DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10159-3;

Figueroa R, Gago CM, Beckerman-Hsu J, Aftosmes-Tobio A, Yu X, Davison KK, Jurkowski JJ. Development and Validation of a Parental Health-Related Empowerment Scale with Low Income Parents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 20; 17(22). PMID: 33233860; PMCID: PMC7699877; DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17228645;

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 9 publications over 4 distinct years, with a maximum of 5 publications in 2022