Prabhdeep Sandha

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Prabhdeep Sandha

Chair and Associate Professor of Nutrition

College of Health and Human Sciences

Biography

Prabhdeep Sandha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Metropolitan State University of Denver since Fall 2020. She completed her Ph.D. in Nutrition Policy & Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Applied Statistics from the University of Mississippi (2020). She also completed Individualized Supervised Practice Pathways (ISPP) from Ohio State University (2022). She has experience in the field of community nutrition, public health, child and school nutrition, as well as clinical nutrition.

Research Interests

    Sandha's research focuses on hunger, food insecurity, child and school nutrition, nutrition policies & program development, and evaluation. She is running a very successful community nutrition program in Longmont, CO, in association with department of Health Professions at MSU Denver and Longmont Housing Authority. In her previous appointment, she developed and managed different community outreach programs. These programs were organized in the rural and low-income Appalachian region of Mississippi. She has been working on a few community-outreach projects such as 'STEM-learning and summer feeding program,’ 'Farm-to-YOUth program,' and 'Hydration in high school athletes program.' She is trained in using several public-use microdata widely used in public health nutrition research such as NHANES, FoodAPS, and others. Her rigorous doctoral training in nutrition policy and statistics helped her become proficient in using secondary big data sets and using certain statistical software such as STATA and SPSS. She has had the privilege of being involved in an Institute of Child Nutrition - United States Department of Agriculture qualitative study. She was responsible for data analysis of qualitative data, for which the group utilized NVivo.

Teaching Interests

    Sandha did curriculum development and teaches courses in the undergraduate (Community Nutrition NUT 4210; Introduction to Nutrition NUT 4210) and graduate programs (Nutrition Research Capstone courses: NUT 6000, NUT 6010, NUT 6020; Nutrition Seminar II NUT 5081; Programmatic and Systematic Approaches to Prevention NUT 5071). Apart from teaching courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs, she also develops and maintains community partnerships.

    Her teaching philosophy revolves around the following four A’s:
    Acknowledgment: Appreciation and acknowledgment of students by the professor and vice versa.
    Achievement: Pushing team members to get out of their comfort zone and achieve success.
    Affection: Professional affection and mutual respect among team members.
    Aha, moment: When students discover/ innovate, even if it is a small discovery or if they discover what they are interested in pursuing.
    Teaching and learning are both intellectual and spiritual endeavors! Sandha takes responsibility as a teacher to transform and hone the skills and intellect of her students to make them competent for real-life challenges. She wants her students to be successful and achieve professional growth as well as build a positive personal and social life.

Education

Other in ISPP

Ohio State University

PhD in Nutrition and Hospitality Management, Emphasis Nutrition Policy

University of Mississippi

BS in Nutrition and Dietetics (Honors)

Punjab Agricultural University

Personal Website

https://www.linkedin.com/in/prabhdeep-sandha-phd-341a3699/

Published Works

    Sandha, P., Holben, D., Chang, Y. (2026). Is There Any Association Between U.S. Children Produce Intake and School Grade Groups?. Journal of Child Nutrition Management, 50(1). https://schoolnutrition.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/JCNM-Spring-2026-Produce-Intake-School-Grade-Groups.pdf. Roe, M., Diker, M. A., Sandha, P. . The Role of Support Programs in Promoting Career Preparedness in Diverse Dietetic Students. Journal of Dietetic Education, Bargas, T., Sandha, P., Thareja, G. . Evaluating the Impact of a Population-targeted, University-led Health and Nutrition Education Program in a Low-income Housing Complex in Northern Colorado. Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Diker, A., Sandha, P., Sinley, R., Collins, K. (2023). Lessons Learned and Best Practices from Running a Successful Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) Program, Revolving Around Advising for Diverse Students in a Baccalaureate Program at a Four-Year Institute. Hawaii International Conference on Education. Bargas, T., Librizzi, S., Rejai, B., Sandha, P. (2023). An Exploratory Study on Barriers and Opportunities in Gleaning and Food Rescue. Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Randolph, N., Beaty, S., Nguyen, W., Grevstad, N., Masters, M., Sandha, P. (2023). Investigating the Relationship between Intuitive Eating and Eating Disorder/Disordered Eating Risk in Collegiate Athletes. Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Sandha, P., Diker, A., Rejai, B. (2022). Closing the Gap by Providing Support Services: Perspectives of Diverse Nutrition Scholars about Impacts of Intrusive Advising and Mentorship Program (IAMP). Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Leon, J., Mata-Ruiz, S., Sandha, P. (2022). How Does Nutritional Knowledge of Postpartum Women Participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) Program Relate to BMI?. Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Sandha, P., Higgins, J., LeGros Strickler, k., Weitzner, M. (2022). Using Photovoice with Middle and High School Students to Capture Youth Voices on Food Environments and the impact of COVID-19. Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Sandha, P., Holben, H. D. (2021). Development of Drive-through Summer Feeding and Food-based STEM Education Program in Collaboration with a Rural Library, Small Local Supermarket, and Literacy-focused Philanthropy Group. Journal of Child Nutrition & Management, https://schoolnutrition.org/JCNM/ Peterson, J., Wolff , K., Sandha, P. (2021). Environmental Scan and Formative Research of Student Engagement Practices in Support of School Meals Programs. Journal of Child Nutrition & Management, https://schoolnutrition.org/NewsPublications/JCNM/2021/Spring/ Sandha, P., Holben, H. D. (2021). Perceptions of the Summer Food Environment in a Rural Appalachian Mississippi Community by Youth: Photovoice and Focus Group. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutritionhttps://hendpg.org/journal-of-hunger-and-environmental-nutrition-jhen. Peterson, J., Wolff , K., Sandha, P. (2021). Environmental Scan and Formative Research of Student Engagement Practices in Support of School Meals Programs. Institute of Child Nutrition, University, MS: Author & US Department of Agriculture, https://theicn.org/icn-resources-a-z/environmental-scan-and-formative-research-phase-1 Sandha, P., Holcomb, P. J., Holben, H. D. (2021). Household food security and gardening of mothers with young children living on Prince Edward Island. . (in press). Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutritionhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2021.1873884. Sandha, P., Chang, Y., Carithers, T., Loprinzi, P., Holben, D. (2020). Differences in Produce Intake of U.S. School-Aged Children by Frequency of School Lunch Consumption. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.09.005 Holben, D., Sandha, P., Tarr, K. (2020). Do Produce Behaviors Differ by Food Security among Adults Living in a Rural, Appalachian Mississippi Community?. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.06.065 Tarr, K., Sandha, P., Holben, D. (2020). Does a Once-weekly Food Education Program Improve Sport Nutrition Knowledge of High School Football Players in Rural, Appalachian Mississippi?. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.06.066 Holben, D., Carlton, M., Sandha, P., Tarr, K. (2020). Food Security Status and Disordered Eating of Male High School Football Players in Rural, Appalachian Mississippi Participating in a Food Education Program. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.06.074 Sandha, P. (2019). Perception of School Nutrition Professionals (SNP) regarding barriers, challenges, solutions, and strategies for designing school-specific, HACCP-based food safety plans. The Journal of Child Nutrition & Management, https://schoolnutrition.org/newspublications/jcnm/2019/fall/ Sandha, P., Holben, D. (2019). Food Security, SNAP Usage, and Produce Behaviors among Elementary School Children in a Rural, Appalachian Mississippi County. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2019.06.226 Sandha, P., Benefield, J., Holben, D. (2019). Health and Food Security of International Students at a Southern University . Current Developments in Nutrition, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz051.p04-078-19 Sandha, P., Holben, D. (2019). Perceptions of the Summer Food Environment in a Rural Appalachian Mississippi Community by Youth. Current Developments in Nutrition, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz051.p04-153-19 Sandha, P., Weber, M., Holben, D. (2018). Impact of a Produce Intervention on Parental Produce Intake and Behaviors. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2018.06.044