Institution: University of South Carolina
Graduate Program: Ph.D. Exercise Science – Rehabilitations Science
Education: B.S., Athletic Training, University of Texas at Austin; M.S., Advanced Athletic Training, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health
Mentor: Dr. Toni Torres-McGehee, University of South Carolina; LaGwyn Durden, previously University of Texas at Austin, currently NCAA
Nancy A. Uriegas loves to study marching band artists. She has seen her share as she has pursued her undergraduate and graduate degrees at institutions where marching bands are part of the culture. As an athletic trainer, she has seen issues that fuel her research interests: nutrition, eating disorders, and energy availability in athletics, performing arts, and military medicine.
“Nancy effectively translates her research into practical and meaningful service,” says Dr. Toby S. Jenkins, interim associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the Graduate School at USC.
“The purpose of the research is to be clinically relevant so that it can translate to clinical practice,” says Uriegas.
As an undergraduate, Uriegas worked with track and field athletes and saw the female athlete triad, which involves the correlation between energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and osteoporosis. Disordered eating can play a big role.
“When I transitioned from working clinically to a research side of things, my first project was assessing healthcare professionals’ knowledge of feeding and eating disorders,” says Uriegas. “I realized a lot of people don’t have the knowledge or the right understanding of disordered eating and general nutrition practices.”
As a Mexican-American woman pursuing a doctorate, Uriegas often reminds herself that she does, in fact, belong in academia. She is part of the prestigious Grace Jordan McFadden Professors Program, which prepares underrepresented ethnically diverse students for careers as professors.
