Lisa M Bodnar

Contributions to Public Health

• Informing pregnancy weight gain guidelines: The first national guidelines on weight gain during pregnancy were published 60 years ago. Yet, the ideal amount of maternal weight gain remains controversial. I was a member of the 2009 Institute of Medicine Committee to Reexamine Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines, and our report, which I co-authored, revised weight gain recommendations for pregnant mothers. My research has filled major gaps in knowledge identified by the IOM that will inform subsequent weight gain guidelines.
  • (co-authored) Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2029. Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Reexamining the Guidelines. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
  • Bodnar LM, Johansson K, Himes KP, Khodyakov D, Abrams B, Parisi SM, Hutcheon JA. Gestational weight gain below recommendations and adverse maternal and child health outcomes for pregnancies with overweight or obesity: a US cohort study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2024 Sep;120(3):638-647. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.06.011. Epub 2024 Jun 26. PMID: 38942117; PMCID: PMC11393396.
• Innovative approaches to determine optimal gestational weight gain ranges: The major knowledge gaps preventing the 2009 Institute of Medicine Committee from addressing some of the most pressing public health concerns about optimal pregnancy weight gain could not be filled because of a lack of necessary methodology and expertise. I have led studies that use innovative methodology to overcome limitations in our approaches for defining evidence-based weight gain guidelines. My research has provided key scientific leadership to the further refinement of gestational weight gain guidelines.
  • Bodnar LM, Johansson K, Himes KP, Khodyakov D, Abrams B, Parisi SM, Hutcheon JA. Do current pregnancy weight gain guidelines balance risks of adverse maternal and child health in a United States cohort?. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Feb;119(2):527-536. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10884606.
  • Bodnar LM, Khodyakov D, Parisi SM, Himes KP, Burke JG, Hutcheon JA. Rating the seriousness of maternal and child health outcomes linked with pregnancy weight gain. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2021 Jul;35(4):459-468. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12741. Epub 2020 Nov 20. PMID: 33216402; PMCID: PMC8134513.
• Optimal dietary patterns for promoting pregnancy, birth and postpartum health: More than 75% of childbearing-aged women do not consume a diet that meets the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. I have published research documenting the poor nutritional status of women before, during, and after pregnancy, and establishing associations between dietary patterns and adverse maternal and child health outcomes. My research uses innovative methodologic approaches that avoid the common pitfalls of nutritional epidemiology, including machine learning.
  • Bodnar LM, Kirkpatrick SI, Parisi SM, Jin Q, Naimi AI. Periconceptional Dietary Patterns and Adverse Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes. J Nutr. 2024 Feb;154(2):680-690. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10900249
  • Bodnar LM, Cartus AR, Kennedy EH, Kirkpatrick SI, Parisi SM, Himes KP, Parker CB, Grobman WA, Simhan HN, Silver RM, Wing DA, Perry S, Naimi AI. Use of a Doubly Robust Machine-Learning-Based Approach to Evaluate Body Mass Index as a Modifier of the Association Between Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Preeclampsia. Am J Epidemiol. 2022 Jul 23;191(8):1396-1406. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9614933.
• Effects of prepregnancy obesity on adverse maternal and child health outcomes: In the US, about one-third of women are affected by obesity before the start of pregnancy. This number is expected to rise over the next decade. My research has contributed to evidence documenting the rise in risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes as obesity becomes more severe, and the plethora of reproductive and perinatal consequences of prepregnancy obesity. I have led work that highlights the importance of systems-level changes required to reduce obesity.
  • Bodnar LM, Siminerio LL, Himes KP, Hutcheon JA, Lash TL, Parisi SM, Abrams B. Maternal obesity and gestational weight gain are risk factors for infant death. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016 Feb;24(2):490-8. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4731302.
  • Bodnar LM, Parks WT, Perkins K, Pugh SJ, Platt RW, Feghali M, Florio K, Young O, Bernstein S, Simhan HN. Maternal prepregnancy obesity and cause-specific stillbirth. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Oct;102(4):858-64. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4588742.