Erica P. Gunderson PhD, MS, MPH, RD

Dr. Erica Gunderson is an epidemiologist and Senior Research Scientist whose overall research area encompasses the epidemiology of the origins obesity and chronic diseases in women during the reproductive years as influenced by pre-pregnancy risk factor status, reproductive characteristics, pregnancy course and outcomes, and lactation. She received her Doctorate in Epidemiology and the Warren Winkelstein Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies in Epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley (UCB). She also earned both MPH and MS degrees from UCB, and a BS degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Her research focuses on the long-term impact of pregnancy and lactation on the development of obesity, cardiovascular disease risk factors, type 2 diabetes and metabolic disease in women during mid-life. Her research also investigates the role of pregnancy complications as predictors of future diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life, with a particular interest in the high-risk group of women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus, and other adverse pregnancy outomes. In addition, she studies the offspring exposed to maternal obesity and diabetes in utero and future obesity. She has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed original research papers and reviews.