SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

McKenzie Wallace is a PhD student at Case Western Reserve University Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. Her program of research focuses on investigating genetic and lifestyle interactions with inflammation and the development of diseases of pregnancy. Ms. Wallace graduated from the University of Iowa in 2015 with her BSN and BA in International Studies and Global Health. While at the University of Iowa she worked with a research team investigating the interactions between lifestyle behaviors and manifestation of symptoms in a prodromal Huntington Disease population. This experience piqued her interest in the interaction between genes and lifestyle behaviors. While pursing a BA in International Studies and Global health, Ms. Wallace became particularly interested in maternal health and mortality. In her PhD program, Ms. Wallace is marrying her interests in lifestyle behaviors, genetics, and maternal health in her dissertation, which will investigate the associations between the LPA gene variants, physical activity, fat mass, stress, inflammation levels, and pregnancy induced hypertension and gestational diabetes. Ms. Wallace is a student liaison for the Emerging Scholars Network with MNRS and chair of the PhD Student Nursing Association at CWRU.