Rate My Professor Rachael Taylor

Taylor's research examines how sleep, diet, and physical activity interact to influence body weight across the life cycle, with a primary focus on early childhood obesity prevention. She conducts observational studies and large randomised controlled trials to develop objective measures of lifestyle behaviours, explore mechanistic interactions between behaviours, and test interventions for effective weight management in children, families, and communities. Her work addresses complementary feeding practices, sleep habits, screen time, rapid weight gain, and household food insecurity, particularly among Māori and Pacific infants in New Zealand. Taylor has authored over 320 publications, accumulating more than 13,500 citations. Key contributions include 'Evaluation of waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and the conicity index as screening tools for high trunk fat mass, as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry' (2000, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1659 citations), 'Bone mineral density and body composition in boys with distal forearm fractures: a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry study' (2001, The Journal of Pediatrics, 588 citations), and 'Bone mineral density in girls with forearm fractures' (1998, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 540 citations). Recognized for her impact, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (FRSNZ) in 2022, holds the Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi Fellowship, and in 2023 secured a $5 million Health Research Council programme grant for her team. She also received an INTUE Annual Award in 2024 for time-use epidemiology.