Ranjita Misra, Ph.D, CHES, FMALRC is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at TexasA&M University.  Dr. Misra has a background in nutrition and terminal degree in Public Health Services. A member of the Center for the Study of Health Disparities and Intercollegiate Faculty of Nutrition, Dr. Misra is the PI of a multi-center national study examining prevalence and risk factors for diabetes and CVD risk factors among Asian Indians in the US with a cross-cultural comparison of rural and urban Indians in India (called the Diabetes among Indian Americans (DIA Study). She is also the PI of several diabetes and nutrition intervention projects in India. Her focus on the Mexican American and African American population is clinical and non-clinical determinants of metabolic syndrome with a long-term goal to enhance theoretical and community-based intervention models on health promotion and disease prevention among the minorities for reducing health disparities. She has received numerous internal and external grants for national/cross-cultural studies to examine health behaviors and risk factors for chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease) among African Americans, South Asians, and Mexican Americans in the US, India and Mexico. As a well known academic with both local and international exposure Dr. Misra is the author of many research articles in referred journals and has guided both masters and doctoral students for research projects. In recognition of her outstanding research activities, she received the Health Disparities Scholars Award from MD Anderson, Armstrong Scholar and Research Award from the Department of Health and Kinesiology at TexasA&M University, and MARLC Grantsmanship award from the Mexican American and Latino ResearchCenter at Texas A&MUniversity.