Rachel N.S. Foster

Rachel N.S. Foster is a doctoral student in the Applied Behavioral Science Department at the University of Kansas. She received her master’s degree in fall 2020. She is currently supervised by Dr. Derek Reed of the Applied Behavioral Economics Laboratory and Dr. Vincent Francisco of the Center for Community Health and Development. Her master’s thesis project examined the differences between reinforcing efficacies of high- and low-calorie foods within a behavioral economic scope. She is in the process of developing her dissertation project, centered on the topics of weight loss and weight management.

Rachel is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Energy Balance Lab at the University of Kansas Medical Center and is a primary interventionist serving on several R01 NIH-funded grants. She is the co-investigator of a pilot and feasibility grant funded by the Healthy Weight Research Network, examining the impact of yoga on balance, flexibility, and strength in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. In addition, she teaches weight loss and weight management classes for individuals in the community with obesity and overweight as part of the University of Kansas’s Weight Management Program. Rachel’s passions for health and fitness extend beyond her research and clinical pursuits, as she currently serves on the Board of Directors for the ABAI Health, Sport, and Fitness Special Interest Group.

Her research interests include applying behavioral economics to intervene on health-related issues, evaluating the feasibility of exercise programs for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and using behavior analytic methods to improve adherence to weight loss goals.

She is the Graduate Teaching Assistant for ABSC 310/311, Building Healthy Communities.