Kathy Hosig named to Purdue University Alumni Hall of Fame
Kathy Hosig, an associate professor of population health sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, has been named a 2014 inductee into Purdue University’s Department of Nutrition Science Hall of Fame.
A registered dietician, Hosig also serves as director of the Center for Practice and Research in Public Health in the college’s Department of Population Health Sciences.
The Hall of Fame Award honors alumni who have made a significant contribution to the varied fields of foods and nutrition and established a unique record in their work and life. The Hall of Fame also honors the careers of those who have contributed to the growth and prominence of the department.
Hosig received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics at Virginia Tech, her doctoral degree in human nutrition from Purdue University in 1992, and a master of public health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She practiced as a clinical dietitian at Lafayette, Indiana’s Home Hospital while doing her Ph.D. at Purdue.
She accepted a faculty position in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences upon completion of her Ph.D., then moved to Western Carolina University to become program director for their didactic program in dietetics, moving to associate professor in 1999. Her next move was to a position in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech in 2004.
From 2008 to 2010, she was associate professor and discipline chair of preventive medicine and public health for the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, returning to Virginia Tech in 2011 as associate professor of population health sciences and director of the Center for Practice and Research in Public Health. She has been recognized for teaching excellence and she identifies, evaluates, and disseminates evidence-based practice models in public health across Virginia and the region, while promoting interdisciplinary practice and research opportunities.
She was honored by the Office of the Vice President for Research at Virginia Tech for her efforts to foster public health research. She focuses on promotion of healthful eating and physical activity habits through public health programs across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on K-12 schools and universities and, most recently, community-based type 2 diabetes education through a five-year National Institutes of Health grant.
As director of the Center for Public Health Practice and Research, she works to create interdisciplinary, collaborative public health practice and research at Virginia Tech extending to external public health agencies, organizations, practitioners, and researchers. She is a core faculty member in the public health education track of the Master of Public Health program, where she teaches health education and health behavior and public health program evaluation, bringing her experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including medical school.
Hosig has been active in professional organizations including the Society for Nutrition Education, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Public Health Association. She is currently is a temporary member of the NIH NINR Initial Review Group, the board of editors for the journal Nutrition Education and Behavior, and an advisory board member for Pioneering Healthy Communities for the Virginia Alliance of YMCAs.
She served for four years on the NIH Community Level Health Promotion Scientific Review Committee, has served as a manuscript reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, served on numerous community and professional coalitions and task forces, and has numerous publications and presentations to her credit.
