Professor of Finance and Economics Dr. Mei Miranda Zhang has recently learned that research she co-authored with one of her GGC colleagues on the prevalence and impact of obesity has been chosen for publication in the January 2012 edition of the International Journal of Business and Public Administration (IJBPA).

Dr. Mei Miranda Zhang

Zhang and Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Lee Kurtz co-authored the paper, "Cross-Sectional Analysis of Overweight And Obesity: Tests of Hypotheses" which explores this headline-grabbing issue from several angles.

Dr. Lee Kurtz

"The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased dramatically and become a crisis in the United States," they write. "Overweight leads to many severe health problems and obesity is linked to increased health consequences  including hypertension osteoarthritis, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, stoke and some cancers. This study provides a cross-sectional examination of overweight and obesity in the United States to determine the correlation between overweight and obesity and a set of  socioeconomic factors, including hypotension, poverty, physical inactivity, education, income, and diabetes. There are strong correlations (positive and negative) among these factors and there is a significant difference among the four selected regions in the United States in terms of prevalence of overweight and obesity."