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“My name is Wendy Demark-Wahnefried and I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the Harvest for Health study. I am Professor in the School of Health Professions' Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and also the Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Control at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Cancer survivorship is a key interest of mine, and for over 25 years, I have been developing programs that can improve the quality and quantity of life among cancer survivors.  In Harvest for Health, it is so great to see to cancer survivors working with their master gardeners to grow lush and productive vegetable gardens.”

Hello, my name is Jennifer. I am a postdoctoral fellow in the UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences, registered nurse, and certified yoga instructor. While I love all veggies, kale definitely gets my vote for favorite leafy green. I am a true believer of the healing power of healthy food and am thrilled to be a member of the Harvest for Health team!

"I specialize in the treatment of breast and gynecologic malignancies. My research focuses on novel treatment approaches and imaging in breast cancer with a translational focus investigating markers for radiation resistance, hypoxia, and fibrosis."

Click here to see my full bio.

Dr. Meredith Kilgore is a health economist. He is the chair of the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy in the UAB School of Public Health. One of his areas of research focuses on assessing the value, or cost-effectiveness, of drugs, devices or interventions aimed at improving health and extending survival.

He will help us to assess the effects of Harvest for Health on quality of life, physical function and health care costs.

Dr. Julie Locher’s work in the area of nutrition and aging has been consistently supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) with four distinct grants awarded to her as Principal Investigator since September of 2001. Additionally, she has received extramural support from other agencies where she served as Principal Investigator (PI) (American Cancer Society and the Lucille Beeson Trust Fund) and as Co-PI or Co-Investigator from multiple agencies to support research focused on nutrition and aging.

She has published or has in press more than 75 peer-reviewed data-based manuscripts on translational nutrition and aging and related topics.

Dr. Robert Oster has held faculty positions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham since 2001. He has worked on projects in the areas of clinical nutrition, cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, rheumatology, nephrology, urology, pathology, pulmonology, malaria, immunology, rural health, transplants, and outcomes research. He has served as a grant reviewer for the NIH Director's Opportunity for Research in Five Thematic Areas Special Emphasis Panel, the NIH/NHBLI Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Special Emphasis Panel, the NIH Cancer Therapy and Biomarkers Special Emphasis Panel, the NIH Cancer Biomarkers Study Section, the NIH Basic Mechanisms of Cancer Therapeutics Study Section, the NIH Clinical Oncology Study Section, the Consortial Center for Chiropractic Research, and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention Research Centers. 

“I am a Registered Nurse, with eight years of experience. I started working on this project as an intern during my master’s degree training in Public Health, and got the opportunity to stay on board to help manage the program. I have loved witnessing the positive impacts of gardening on our participants. Gardening has been a love of mine from a young age, and I enjoy spreading the word to others.”

“I am the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Outreach Coordinator for Harvest for Health. I graduated from Auburn with a degree in Horticulture. My favorite part of the job is reading all the emails from the Master Gardeners about their gardening experiences with their ‘new friend.’ I especially love to read about the Master Gardeners who go above and beyond and plan garden related trips with their participant. I love watching the relationships grow as gardens are growing.”

Along with the physical benefits of gardening, the participants have an opportunity to engage in social support with their Master Gardner in a mentor-mentee relationship.

Master Gardeners are volunteers who complete 50 hours of specialized training and 50 hours of volunteer work with the Alabama Cooperative Extension in order to expand its outreach mission to educate their communities. When offered the opportunity to work with cancer survivors, 80 percent of Master Gardeners wanted to participate. These volunteers are at the heart of the Harvest for Health study, working closely as mentors to their paired survivors to grow successful vegetable gardens.