Yolanda Michelle Adwoa is a researcher at the Odoms-Young Nutrition Liberation, Food Sovereignty, and Justice Lab and a PhD candidate in Psychology, specializing in Health Psychology at Capella University. She specializes in Family Health Psychology, with an emphasis on maternal health, food behaviors, and the well-being of families raising children with disabilities and diverse health needs.

Her research bridges health psychology, food psychology, disability studies, and family systems theory. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, Yolanda explores how food environments, psychosocial stress, and family dynamics influence nutrition, mental health, and lifestyle behaviors across the lifespan.

Yolanda’s work advances holistic, culturally responsive, and disability-inclusive approaches to family wellness. Her scholar-practitioner efforts contribute to intervention design, program evaluation, and policy development aimed at strengthening family systems—particularly those navigating maternal mental health concerns, neurodevelopmental disabilities, and chronic illness in children.

Her dissertation, "Examining Obesity, Weight Perceptions & Psychological Well-Being in Black Mothers: The Role of Social-Ecological Factors," investigates how food attitudes, social support, and environmental perceptions shape perceived weight status and psychological well-being among mothers across the four major U.S. regions.

At the Odoms-Young Lab, she leads two projects: a scoping review on multilevel determinants of nutrition-related behaviors in youth of color with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities, and a study exploring African American parental perceptions of mealtime behaviors in children with autism. Her broader research also examines food-related parenting practices, emotional regulation, and family health decision-making, with a special focus on how dietary behaviors influence child development, disability outcomes, and mental health.