Yolanda Michelle Adwoa is a researcher at Cornell University's Odoms-Young Nutrition Liberation, Food Sovereignty, and Justice Lab and a PhD candidate in Psychology, specializing in Health Psychology at Capella University. Her research bridges Health Psychology, Food Psychology, Disabilities, and Family Studies, with a focus on how psychological, social, and environmental factors influence nutrition, mental health, and overall well-being across the lifespan.

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, Yolanda explores how family dynamics, food environments, and psychological factors shape health behaviors. She is committed to advancing holistic, family-centered approaches to health, particularly in the context of maternal and child health, disability, and chronic illness.

Her scholar-practitioner work supports and informs efforts to strengthen family systems through culturally relevant, food-centered, and disability-inclusive health research. While grounded in research, Yolanda’s work contributes to the development of interventions and public health strategies—particularly those that address the needs of families navigating diverse health challenges and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Her community-informed approach bridges research and practice, offering insights that can inform programs, services, and policy efforts aimed at improving family and population health.

Her dissertation, "Examining Obesity, Weight Perceptions & Psychological Well-Being in Black Mothers: The Role of Social-Ecological Factors," investigates the socio-cultural and psychological factors that influence food attitudes, weight perception, and mental health among Black mothers.

More broadly, Yolanda’s research examines food-related parenting practices, emotional regulation, health motivation, and family health decision-making—with an emphasis on how dietary behaviors affect child development, disability, and mental health outcomes. At the Odoms-Young Lab, she leads two projects: a scoping review on Nutrition and Disability, and a study on Parental Perceptions of Mealtime Behaviors in African American children with autism.