Thesis Thursday – Lucia Mosqueira

My name is Lucia Mosqueira, I was born here in Arizona but raised in Hermosillo,
Sonora, Mexico. Five years ago, I moved back to the US to pursue a career in
nutritional sciences with a dietetics option. I am passionate about the idea of using
food as medicine by connecting food with nutrients, and with people’s needs, and
with certain diseases as well. I want to help people make life-changing, and even
life-saving, nutrition and lifestyle choices. Throughout my dietetic career, I have
developed my clinical nutrition skills by working as a diet clerk in a rehab hospital
and by participating in several inter-disciplinary activities in various clinics. Also, I
have experience in the community by giving nutrition talks to a wide variety of
people and the food service area by working as a server in a restaurant here at the
University of Arizona. I am currently developing my research skills by working in
my honors thesis project titled “The Perception of Students on Organic versus
Conventional Foods”. Over the summer I completed a research study about the
association of chronic inflammation with body composition in Hispanic girls with
the supervision of my mentors Dr. Jennifer Bea and Dr. Scott Going. The manuscript
is going to be published next month in the Journal of the American Medical
Association of Pediatrics, and I will be a co-author of the paper. I am very excited of
the experience I have gained and even more excited of further developing my skills
to accomplish my goal of being a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a Masters of
Science Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics.