Lauren Shomaker
Colorado State University-Fort Collins, CO·Psychology·Early-career
Type 2 diabetes is rising fast among teenagers, and it often progresses more aggressively in teens than in adults. Exercise is the standard prevention approach, but it works poorly for many at-risk adolescents.
- Fields
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
type 2 diabetes
diabetes prevention
insulin resistance
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- Compare four sequences of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and exercise training for improving insulin resistance in 300 adolescent females at risk for type 2 diabetes with elevated depression, in a randomized controlled trial.
- Test whether physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness explain why depression symptoms are linked to worse insulin resistance in at-risk adolescent girls.
- Use a mixed-methods process evaluation to learn how lowering depression leads teens to become more active, fitter and more insulin-sensitive.
- Build expertise in dissemination and implementation science and digital technology tools to extend diabetes and heart disease prevention programs, while mentoring new clinical investigators.
More about the research
Depression may be part of the reason. Depressed teens tend to be less active and less fit, and their depression symptoms predict worsening insulin resistance, the body's weakened response to insulin that comes before diabetes. The lab's research sits where mental health meets cardiometabolic health. It designs targeted prevention strategies for adolescents, especially those facing social adversity.
Why it matters
Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease fall hardest on people of color and on families facing economic hardship. Finding out whether pairing depression treatment with exercise better improves insulin resistance could give clinicians a feasible, low-cost way to lower diabetes risk in adolescent girls with obesity and depression symptoms. Implementation research may help such programs reach more communities.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Lisham Ashrafioun
University of Rochester, NY·Psychology
Test whether six weekly telehealth sessions of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Perceived Social Isolation (CBT-PSI) reduce loneliness more than therapist-delivered or self-guided Health Education in 300 adults with opioid use disorder.
Michelle Roley-Roberts
West Virginia University, WV·Psychology
Test in a randomized controlled trial with 100 at-risk pregnant women in rural West Virginia whether the online Preventing Postpartum Onset Distress program reduces prenatal anxiety and other postpartum anxiety risk factors more than an anxiety education control.
Lauren Osborne
Columbia University, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether the doula-delivered LHMoms program lowers postpartum depression, improves cardiovascular health and raises quality of life compared with an attention control, in a randomized trial of 450 patients at three New York City hospital sites.
The school
Colorado State University-Fort Collins: 23 labs on PI Pages, $466M a year on research, 276 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.