Harsohena Kaur, M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Division of General Pediatrics
200 Oak Street SE; Suite 260
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Ofc: (612) 625-2616
Fax: (612) 626-2134
hkaur@umn.edu

Harsohena Kaur, M.D., M.P.H., is a general pediatrician who joined the Department of Pediatrics in October 2005 as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Kaur obtained her medical degree from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana in India and completed her pediatric residency at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. After her residency, Dr. Kaur was an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellow with the Centers for Disease Control. She joined the University of Kansas Medical Center at Kansas City, KS in 1999 as a primary care faculty-fellow and obtained her Masters in Public Health. She continued on the faculty there working in both in-patient and out-patient general pediatrics as well as focusing on research related to understanding and intervening with smoking and obesity.

Dr. Kaur has focused her research on epidemiology and behavior change related to smoking cessation and obesity prevention. In particular she is interested in the impact of the environment on behavioral choices that lead to increasing weight gain and difficulty with losing or maintaining weight.

Current grants/projects:
“Preventing Childhood Obesity through Computer-Tailored Guidance to Parents”
The goals of this pilot study are to develop and test an interactive computer system to collect data from parents related to their child¿s eating and activity patterns which will lead to the generation of a printed handout containing tailored recommendations for childhood obesity prevention for parents of pre-school children, and to pilot test the intervention to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability and impact.
Pilot grant       Viking¿s Children¿s Fund, University of Minnesota            11/06- 10/08  
Role: Principal Investigator              
 
Body composition analyzer scale and computer for intake assessment.
Equipment grant        Department of Pediatrics 2006 Winefest Equipment Grant        6/2006
Received funding ($3,500) for a TANITA body composition analyzer/scale and tablet pc for developing an intake assessment tool for the Pediatric Weight Management Center.
 
“Preventing Childhood Obesity through Improved Parental Perception of Child Weight Status”
The goal of this pilot study is to develop a process and materials to aid pediatricians in informing parents of preschoolers about their child¿s weight status and provide appropriate recommendations to promote behaviors for healthy weight management. Parents will be surveyed to assess whether the materials were acceptable and effective in developing a realistic awareness of their child¿s weight               
Pilot grant       Obesity Prevention Center, University of Minnesota         9/06- 6/07      
Role: Principal Investigator              

Recent Publications:

Li C, Goran MI, Kaur H, Nollen N, Ahluwalia JS. Developmental trajectories of overweight during childhood: role of early life factors. Obesity, 15:760-771, 2007.

Ammouri AA, Kaur H, Neuberger G, Gajewki B, Choi WS. Correlates of Exercise Participation in Adolescents. Public Health Nursing. Mar-Apr; 24(2):111-20, 2007.

Okuyemi KS, Pulvers KM, Cox LS, Thomas JL, Kaur H, Mayo MS, Nazir N, Etter JF, Ahluwalia JS. Nicotine Dependence among African American Light Smokers: A Comparison of Three Scales Addictive Behaviors, Jan 11;(Epub), 2007.

Okuyemi KS, Cox LS, Nollen NL, Snow TM, Kaur H, Choi W, Nazir N, Mayo MS, Ahluwalia JS.  Baseline characteristics and recruitment strategies in a randomized clinical trial of African-American light smokers. Am J Health Promotion. Jan-Feb; 21(3):183-91, 2007.

Choi WS, Ellerbeck EF, Kaur H, Nazir N, Ahluwalia JS. Factors Associated with Physician Discussion of Health Behaviors with Adolescents Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 35(6):969-975, 2006.
 
Kempf AM, Strother M, Li C, Kaur H and Huang TTK. Leptin as a Marker of Body Fat and Hyperinsulinemia in College Students. Journal of American College Health, 55(3):175-180, 2006.

Kaur H, Li C, Nazir N, Choi WS, Resnicow K, Birch LL, Ahluwalia JS. Confirmatory factor analysis of the child feeding questionnaire among parents of adolescents. Appetite, 47:36-45, 2006.

Ahluwalia JS, Okuyemi K, Nollen N, Choi WS, Kaur H, Pulvers K, Mayo MS. The effects of nicotine gum and counseling among African American light smokers: A 2x2 factorial design. Addiction, 101(6):883-891, 2006.

Befort C, Kaur H, Nollen N, Sullivan D, Nazir N, Choi W, Hornberger L, Ahluwalia J. Fruit, vegetable, and fat intake among non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white adolescents: associations with home availability and food consumption settings. Journal of American Dietetic Association Mar, 106(3):367-373, 2006.



Befort CA, Greiner KA, Hall S, Pulvers KM, Nollen NL, Charbonneau A, Kaur H, Ahluwalia JS. Weight-related perceptions among patients and their physicians: How well do physicians¿ judge their patients¿ motivations to lose weight? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21:1086-1090, 2006.



Carroll SL, Lee RE, Kaur H, Harris KJ, Strother ML, Huang TTK. Smoking, weight loss intention and obesity-promoting behaviors in college students. J Am Coll Nutr, 4:348-353, 2006.



Nollen NL, Mayo MS, Sanderson Cox L, Okuyemi KS, Mayo MS, Choi WS, Kaur H, Ahluwalia JS. Predictors of quitting among african american light smokers enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21:590-595, 2006.

Presentations
2/8/2007  “Obesity- Individual Choice or Environmental Fall-out,” Grand Rounds, Department of Pediatrics, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD.

Future Presentations
4/27/2007 “Stemming the Tide: Primary Care Providers and The Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” CME Presentation at the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Spring Seminar, St. Paul, MN.