Christie

Dr. Christie Custodio-Lumsden is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition Sciences at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine in the Section of Oral, Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Sciences, Division of Foundational Sciences. She is an active and devoted member of the College’s Committee on Access, Equity and Inclusion and is committed to research to reduce health inequities.

 

Dr. Lumsden received her PhD and MPhil in Behavioral Nutrition from Columbia University (2013). After completing her dissertation, entitled The Diet and Early Childhood Caries (DECC) Study: Validation of a Novel ECC Risk Assessment Tool and Investigation of Diet-Related ECC Risk Factors, she joined the College of Dental Medicine as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Dr. Lumsden earned an MS in Nutrition Education (2009) and became a Registered Dietitian and NYS Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist (2010). Dr. Lumsden then acquired counseling and medical nutrition therapy skills as a Clinical Nutritionist at the renowned Hospital for Special Surgery.

 

Dr. Lumsden’s work to date has largely focused on designing and conducting community-based research to encourage adoption of healthy diet-related behaviors to reduce oral health disparities in socially-vulnerable children. She has been integral to the evaluation, enhancement and dissemination of the innovative MySmileBuddy caries risk assessment and behavioral intervention program, taking a leading role on development and implementation of a training curriculum, large community-based pragmatic trial, randomized controlled trial protocol, and adaptation of MySmileBuddy for multiple use cases. Dr. Lumsden is also currently expanding her research portfolio to examine the underlying biologic pathways through which socio-environmental determinants influence the dynamic interplay between nutrition and oral health.