Rujia Xie (she/her) is a Public Policy and Global Health double major with a minor in Sexuality Studies. Rujia is originally from Guangdong, China and moved to San Diego, CA a couple of years ago. Throughout her time at Duke, she has conducted an 8-week community-based rural health research in Pamlico County, NC in the Duke Global Health Student Research Training program, and assisted in Dr. White’s Assets-based Obesity Intervention at the Duke Center for Childhood Obesity Research. She has also led a research project at the City of Hope titled “Measuring the Access to Culturally Appropriate Food and Its Association with Diabetes among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in San Diego County.” This thesis project is a continuation of Rujia’s work on the food environment and access to culturally appropriate food. Rujia’s research interests lie in food access, built environment, and health equity. Particularly, she aspires to reduce chronic health inequities by advancing assets-based research in public health nutrition and offering culturally appropriate food policy solutions. After graduation, Rujia plans to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Public Health Nutrition.

Honors Thesis: Measuring the Community and Consumer Environments of Food Stores in Durham, N.C., with Culturally Appropriate Tools

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Christine Gray