As the faculty director of the Nutritional Sciences Preschool, I am the chief administrator for the school, responsible for curriculum, staffing, budget, facilities, and day-to-day running of the school.  In addition, I facilitate child nutrition research that goes on in with the parents and children in the school, as well as collaborate with other researchers in the area of child nutrition and early education.   Our preschool has been an integral part of child nutrition research in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, as well as other departments, such as Food Science, Psychology, and Pediatrics at UMDNJ.  In our own research on preschoolers and breakfast, we found that preschoolers ate a better breakfast nutritionally at school with peers than in a home environment and also that they performed better on a battery of pre-academic tasks with a better breakfast.  In a comparison study between our Preschool children and Head Start children we found that significantly more preschoolers in the Head Start program were at-risk for overweight or overweight already than the middle-class children in the Preschool.  We also found that the Head Start children were much less active.

In a current study of correspondence between parents and preschoolers trying and liking of fruits and vegetables, we surveyed the average number of fruits and vegetables tried and liked by a cohort of middle-income mothers and their preschool children.  Although children rarely tried more vegetables than their mothers liked, a full third of the children tried more fruits than their mothers.  The results suggest that a mother’s likes may place a limit on vegetables that she exposes her child to, but that preschool may be an excellent forum for introducing a variety of fruits to young children.

As a faculty member, I regularly teach the course “Nutrition for the Developing Child”.  I have also taught “Contemporary Issues in Nutrition”, team-taught “Nutrition for the Child in the Family and Community,” and sponsor “Research in Nutrition” students each semester investigating topics in child development and nutrition.

Current research interests include the development of early eating habits, obesity in early childhood, activity in young children, the relationship between breakfast and learning in preschool children, children as picky eaters, the role of nutrition in sustaining children’s energy, nutrition choices and attitudes of young children, and parental influences on children’s food choices.

Worobey, H.S. (manuscript in preparation) “A Week in Preschool”, chapter in Teaching Literacy in Preschool, by Lesley Mandel Morrow.

Worobey, H.S., Ostapkovich, K., Yudin, K., & Worobey, J.  (2006, July). Trying vs. liking fruits and vegetables:  Correspondence between parents and preschoolers.  Society for Nutrition Education Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.

Worobey, J., Worobey, H.S., & Adler, A.L.  (2005). Diet, activity, and BMI in preschool-aged children:  Differences across settings.  Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 44, 455-466/

Worobey, J., Adler, A.L., & Worobey, H.S. (2004).  Diet and activity in Head Start children at-risk for overweight.  Journal of Children’s Health, 2(2), 133-144.

Worobey, H.S., Cohen, S. Kempner, C., & Worobey, J. (2000).  Picky eaters:  Relating parental perceptions in fruit and vegetable consumption. Proceedings of the Fifth National Head Start Research Conference, 568-569.

Worobey, H.S. & Worobey, J.  (1999). Efficacy of a pre-school breakfast program in lowering refined sugar intake.  International Journal of Nutrition and Food Science, 50, 391-397.

Worobey, J. & Worobey, H.S.  (1999). The impact of a two-year school breakfast program for preschool-aged children on their nutrient intake and pre-academic.  Child Study Journal, 29(2), 113-131.