Rate My Professor Archana McEligot

Archana McEligot, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist and professor of public health in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Fullerton, where she has taught since 2006. She earned her Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University, with a dissertation on the relationships between smoking, homocysteine, and folate levels. Holding an M.S. degree, Dr. McEligot brings nearly three decades of expertise in public health research, education, and mentorship. She directs the McEligot Lab, the Neurocognitive Aging and Analytics Research Education (NAARE) program, the Big Data Discovery & Diversity Through Research Education Advancement and Partnership (BD3-REAP) program, and the Center for Cancer Disparities Research. Additionally, she contributed to developing CSUF's public health nutrition concentration and has led USDA-funded training initiatives such as Nutrition for a Changing World and Comidas y Comunidades Saludables.

Dr. McEligot's research focuses on epidemiology, public health nutrition, cancer risk and survival, health disparities, obesity prevention, nutrition education, and neurocognitive aging, particularly in underserved communities like Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Her investigations examine modifiable risk factors, including diet, lifestyle behaviors, dietary biomarkers such as folate and carotenoids, genetic polymorphisms, and their links to chronic diseases like breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease. She has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles, with over 1,500 citations, including "Logistic LASSO Regression for Dietary Intakes and Breast Cancer" (Nutrients, 2020), "Dietary fat, fiber, vegetable, and micronutrients are associated with overall survival in postmenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer" (Nutrition and Cancer, 2006), "Sex differences in the association of cutaneous melanoma incidence rates and geographic ultraviolet light exposure" (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2017), and "Comorbid Conditions Are Associated With Cognitive Impairment in Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders" (International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 2024). Recognized with the 2025 L. Donald Shields Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity Award, the 2020 California State University Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award, the National Cancer Institute Career Development Award, and National Institute on Aging research training, she has mentored nearly 40 graduate students and 50 undergraduates, secured millions in grants, delivered over 100 presentations, and trained nearly 200 underrepresented students in public health and data science.