Shad Marvasti

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Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Fani Marvasti, F. (2018). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Integrative Pre-ventive Medicine. In Textbook of Integrative Preventive Medicine. Oxford University Press.
• Fani Marvasti, F. (2018). The Role of Family and Community in Integrative Preventive Medicine. In Textbook of Integrative Preventive Medicine. Oxford University Press.

Journals/Publications

• Weeldreyer, N. R., McEntee, M. L., Martin, M. P., Lee, C. D., Marvasti, F. F., Gaesser, G. A., Kessler, R., & Angadi, S. S. (2025). A patient choice-driven lifestyle intervention lowers HbA1c in type 2 diabetes: A feasibility study. Physiological reports, 13(2), e70163.
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  Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a common metabolic disorder in which only 25% of patients meet management targets. While the primary care setting is positioned to provide lifestyle management education, studies are lacking which integrate behavior interventions in this setting utilizing clinic staff. Thus, we evaluated a 90-day lifestyle intervention for management of glycemia at a family practice clinic administered by clinic medical assistants. Twenty patients with non-insulin-dependent T2D completed a 90-day intervention driven by patient choices of nutrition and physical activity. Medical assistants were trained by members of the study team and administered the intervention under nurse practitioner supervision. HbA1c trended toward significant reduction 8.59 ± 0.9% to 8.15 ± 1.2% (p = 0.051, 95% CI: -0.88 to 0.003). Modest reductions were observed for waist circumference (115.5 ± 12.6 vs. 112.5 ± 15.2 cm; p = 0.014, 95% CI: -5.66 to -0.26), body weight (97.7 ± 21.9 vs. 95.6 ± 23.9 kg; p = 0.016. 95% CI: -3.84 to -0.31), and BMI (33.7 ± 7.2 vs. 32.8 ± 7.5 kg/m; p = 0.028, 95% CI: -1.29 to -0.12). This 90-day, patient choice-intervention was successful at lowering HbA1c in patients with T2D. Our study is limited by a lack of control group, and results should be interpreted as such. These data have implications for team-based care models in clinic settings to improve health outcomes in patients with T2D.
• Albin, J. L., Thomas, O. W., Marvasti, F. F., & Reilly, J. M. (2024). There and Back Again: A Forty-Year Perspective on Physician Nutrition Education. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 15(6), 100230.
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  Medical education faces an urgent need for evidence-based physician nutrition education. Since the publication of the 1985 National Academies report "Nutrition Education in the United States Medical Schools," little has changed. Although several key efforts sought to increase nutrition content in undergraduate medical education over the past 40 y, most medical schools still fail to include the recommended minimum of 25 h of nutrition training. Without foundational concepts of nutrition in undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education unsurprisingly falls short of meeting patient needs for nutritional guidance in clinical practice. Meanwhile, diet-sensitive chronic diseases continue to escalate, although largely preventable and treatable by nutritional therapies and dietary lifestyle changes. Fortunately, recent recognition and adoption of Food is Medicine programs across the country increasingly connect patients with healthy food resources and nutrition education as core to their medical care, and physicians must be equipped to lead these efforts alongside their dietitian colleagues. Filling the gap in nutrition training will require an innovative and interprofessional approach that pairs nutrition with personal wellness, interprofessional practice, and community service learning. The intersectional benefits of connecting these domains will help prepare future physicians to address the social, behavioral, and lifestyle determinants of health in a way that recognizes nourishing food access as a core part of clinical practice. There are numerous strategies to integrate nutrition into education pathways, including didactic and experiential learning. Culinary medicine, an evidence-based field combining the culinary arts with nutritional science and medicine, is 1 promising educational framework with a hands-on, interprofessional approach that emphasizes community engagement. Advancing the critical need for widespread adoption of nutrition education for physicians will require support and engagement across societal stakeholders, including co-leadership from registered dietitian nutritionists, health system and payor reform, and opportunities for clinical innovation that bring this essential field to frontline patient care.
• Badaracco, C., Marvasti, F. F., Albin, J., & Thomas, O. (2024). Prescription for Change: Health Care Professionals and Advocacy for Farm Bill Reform. Annals of internal medicine, 177(12), 1725-1727.
• Richardson, K. M., Schembre, S. M., da Silva, V., Blew, R. M., Behrens, N., Roe, D. J., Marvasti, F. F., & Hingle, M. (2024). Adding a Brief Continuous Glucose Monitoring Intervention to the National Diabetes Prevention Program: A Multimethod Feasibility Study. Journal of diabetes research, 2024, 7687694.
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  The National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) promotes lifestyle changes to prevent diabetes. However, only one-third of DPP participants achieve weight loss goals, and changes in diet are limited. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has shown potential to raise awareness about the effects of diet and activity on glucose among people with diabetes, yet the feasibility of including CGM in behavioral interventions for people with prediabetes has not been explored. This study assessed the feasibility of adding a brief CGM intervention to the Arizona Cooperative Extension National DPP. Extension DPP participants were invited to participate in a single CGM-based education session and subsequent 10-day CGM wear period, during which participants reflected on diet and physical activity behaviors occurring prior to and after hyperglycemic events. Following the intervention, participants completed a CGM acceptability survey and participated in a focus group reflecting on facilitators and barriers to CGM use and its utility as a behavior change tool. A priori feasibility benchmarks included opt-in participation rates ≥ 50%, education session attendance ≥ 80%, acceptability scores ≥ 80%, and greater advantages than disadvantages of CGM emerging from focus groups, as analyzed using the Key Point Summary (KPS) method. Thirty-five DPP members were invited to participate; 27 (77%) consented, and 24 of 27 (89%) attended the brief CGM education session. Median survey scores indicated high acceptability of CGM (median = 5, range = 1-5), with nearly all ( = 23/24, 96%) participants believing that CGM should be offered as part of the DPP. In focus groups, participants described how CGM helped them make behavior changes to improve their glucose (e.g., reduced portion sizes, increased activity around eating events, and meditation). In conclusion, adding a single CGM-based education session and 10-day CGM wear to the DPP was feasible and acceptable. Future research will establish the efficacy of adding CGM to the DPP on participant health outcomes and behaviors.
• Stafford, R. S., & Marvasti, F. F. (2012). From sick care to health care--reengineering prevention into the U.S. system.. The New England journal of medicine, 367(10), 889-91. doi:10.1056/nejmp1206230
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  Flexner's acute care model remains securely embedded in the U.S. health care system. But given our chronic-disease epidemics, unsustainable costs, poor outcomes, frequent medical errors, and worsening health disparities, we must replace it with a prevention model.
• Dewell, A., Marvasti, F. F., Harris, W. S., Tsao, P., & Gardner, C. D. (2011). Low- and high-dose plant and marine (n-3) fatty acids do not affect plasma inflammatory markers in adults with metabolic syndrome. The Journal of nutrition, 141(12), 2166-71.
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  Chronic inflammation is considered to play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Various (n-3) fatty acids (FA) have been reported to have antiinflammatory effects, but there is a lack of consensus in this area, particularly in regard to optimal source(s) and dose(s). This study aimed to determine the effects of high and low doses of (n-3) FA from plant and marine sources on plasma inflammatory marker concentrations. One-hundred adults with metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to a low or high dose of plant- (2.2 or 6.6 g/d α-linolenic acid) or marine- (1.2 or 3.6 g/d EPA and DHA) derived (n-3) FA or placebo for 8 wk, using a parallel arm design (n = 20/arm). Fasting blood samples collected at 0, 4, and 8 wk were analyzed for concentrations of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), IL-6, and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and for cardiovascular risk factors. Baseline concentrations across all 5 groups combined were (mean ± SD) 103 ± 32 ng/L for MCP-1, 1.06 ± 0.56 ng/L for IL-6, and 0.197 ± 0.041 ng/L for sICAM-1. There were no significant differences in 8-wk changes in plasma inflammatory marker concentrations among the 5 groups. Plasma TG and blood pressure decreased significantly more and the LDL cholesterol concentration increased more in the high-dose fish oil group compared to the 8-wk changes in some of the other 4 groups (P ≤ 0.04). In conclusion, no beneficial effects were detected for any of the 3 inflammatory markers investigated in response to (n-3) FA in adults with metabolic syndrome regardless of dose or source.
• Castellanos, F. X., Marvasti, F. F., Ducharme, J. L., Walter, J. M., Israel, M. E., Krain, A., Pavlovsky, C., & Hommer, D. W. (2000). Executive function oculomotor tasks in girls with ADHD. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39(5), 644-50.
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  To assess executive function in girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using oculomotor tasks as possible trait markers for neurobiological studies.
• Luskin, F. M., Newell, K. A., Griffith, M., Holmes, M., Telles, S., DiNucci, E., Marvasti, F. F., Hill, M., Pelletier, K. R., & Haskell, W. L. (2000). A review of mind/body therapies in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders with implications for the elderly. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 6(2), 46-56.
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  A comprehensive, but not systematic, review of the research on complementary and alternative treatments, specifically mind/body techniques, on musculoskeletal disease was conducted at Stanford University. The goals of the review were to establish a comprehensive literature review and provide a rationale for future research carrying the theme of "successful aging."
• Luskin, F. M., Newell, K. A., Griffith, M., Holmes, M., Telles, S., Marvasti, F. F., Pelletier, K. R., & Haskell, W. L. (1998). A review of mind-body therapies in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Part 1: Implications for the elderly. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 4(3), 46-61.
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  A review of research on complementary and alternative treatments, specifically mind-body techniques, was conducted at Stanford University. The goals of the review were to establish a comprehensive literature review and to provide a rationale for future research concerning successful aging.

Poster Presentations

• Hingle, M. D., Schembre, S. M., Fani Marvasti, F., Roe, D., Behrens, N., Blew, R., Infante, V. R., & Richardson, K. (2024, March). Acceptability of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the National Diabetes Prevention Program: A Multi-Method Feasibility Study. Society of Behavioral Medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Society of Behavioral Medicine.
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  Poster Presentation
• McCullough, L., Hingle, M. D., Fani Marvasti, F., Walsh, M. E., Infante da Silva, V. R., Armstrong Florian, T. L., Sparks, E. W., Jacobson, E., Knox, A., Knox, A., Jacobson, E., Sparks, E. W., Armstrong Florian, T. L., Infante da Silva, V. R., Walsh, M. E., Fani Marvasti, F., Hingle, M. D., & McCullough, L. (2024, August). The University of Arizona’s Culinary Medicine Initiative.. Arizona Health Equity Conference. Division of Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) Conference.. Tucson, AZ: ArizonaDivision of Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) Conference..
• Knox, A., Jacobson, E., Sparks, E. W., Armstrong Florian, T. L., Infante, V. R., Walsh, M. E., Fani Marvasti, F., Hingle, M. D., & McCullough, L. (2023, August). The University of Arizona’s Culinary Medicine Initiative. 2023 Arizona Cooperative Extension Conference: Building the Future of Extension Through Multi‐Disciplinary Collaboration. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.
• Knox, A., Jacobson, E., Sparks, E. W., Armstrong Florian, T. L., Infante, V. R., Walsh, M. E., Fani Marvasti, F., Hingle, M. D., & McCullough, L. (2023, September). The University of Arizona’s Culinary Medicine Initiative. 2023 Arizona Health Equity Conference. Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Health Equity Conference.