Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, PhD

Professor

email: jilcotts@ecu.edu

Dr. Stephanie Jilcott Pitts was born and raised in Bertie County, eastern North Carolina. She received a BS in Biology with minors in Information/Library Science and Chemistry, and a PhD in Nutrition with a minor in Epidemiology, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Upon degree completion, she worked for World Harvest Mission in Bundibugyo, Uganda, designing and evaluating nutrition programs for malnourished and at-risk children. She came to the ECU Department of Public Health in July 2008. Her research is focused on examining and addressing policy and environmental factors related to obesity, diet, and physical activity. More recently, her work has focused on examining validity and sensitivity of a device to assess skin carotenoids (the Veggie Meter®) as an approximation for fruit and vegetable intake in public health nutrition studies.

Education

  • BS, Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)
  • PhD, Nutrition (Epidemiology minor), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)

Areas of Interest

  • Nutrition
  • Obesity
  • Environmental and policy change to improve diet and physical activity in underserved populations
  • Use of skin carotenoids as an outcome measure in nutrition interventions

Courses Taught

  • MPH 6027 Mixed Methods Research
  • MPH 6502 Public Health Project Management
  • MPH 6991/2 Integrated Learning Experience
  • MPH 6903/4/5 Applied Practicum Experience

Dr. Stephanie Jilcott Pitts Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Significant Publications

  • Faul CB, Jilcott Pitts SB, Calloway E, Seligman H, Reis H, Cherry CW, Hatsu IE, Babatunde OT, MacMillan Uribe AL, McGuirt JT, Seguin-Fowler RA. A meta-ethnography to determine critical constructs of nutrition security. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 57, Issue 3, March 2025, Pages 167-184
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Moran NE, Laska MN, Wu Q, Harnack LJ, Moe SG, Carr-Manthe P, Gates E, Chang J, Zaidi Y, Gelineau A, Berg L, Craft NE. Reflection spectroscopy-assessed skin carotenoids are sensitive to change in carotenoid intake in a six-week randomized controlled feeding trial in a racially/ethnically diverse sample. J of Nutrition, Feb 2023, :S0022-3166(23)12620-4. DOI: 1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.017PMID: 36804322
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Volpe LC, Sitaker M, Belarmino E, Sealey A, Wang W, Becot F, McGuirt J, Ammerman A, Hanson K, Kolodinsky J, Seguin-Fowler R. Offsetting the cost of Community Support Agriculture (CSA) for low-income families: Perceptions and experiences of CSA farmers and members. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. November 2021 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S1742170521000466.
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Wu Q, Truesdale KP, Rafferty AP, Haynes-Maslow L, Boys KA, McGuirt JT, Fleischhacker S, Johnson N, Kaur AP, Bell RA, Ammerman AS, Laska MN. A four-year observational study to examine the dietary impact of the North Carolina 4 healthy food small retailer program, 2017– 2020. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. March 2021;18(44). doi:10.1186/s12966-021-01109-8
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Johnson N, Wu Q, Firnhaber G, Kaur A, Obasohan J. A meta-analysis of studies examining associations between resonance Raman spectroscopy-assessed skin carotenoids and plasma carotenoids among adults and children. Nutrition Reviews. 2022 Jan 10;80(2):230-241. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuab016.
  • Lyonnais MJ, Rafferty AP, Jilcott Pitts SB, Blanchard RJ, Kaur AP. Examining shopping patterns, use of food-related resources, and proposed solutions to improve healthy food access among food insecure and food secure eastern North Carolina residents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(10), 3361; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103361.
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Ng SW, Blitstein J, Gustafson A, Kelley CJ, Pandya S, Weismiller H. Perceived advantages and disadvantages of online grocery shopping among Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participants in eastern North Carolina. Current Developments in Nutrition. 2020;4(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa076.
  • May K, Jilcott Pitts SB, Stage VC, Kelley CJ, Burkholder S, Fang X, Zeng A, Lazorick S. Use of the Veggie Meter® as a tool to objectively approximate fruit and vegetable intake among youth for evaluation of preschool and school-based interventions. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12755.
  • Haynes-Maslow L, Osborne I, Jilcott Pitts SB. Examining best practices and innovative solutions to overcome barriers to delivering policy, systems, and environmental changes within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-education in rural communities: a mixed methods study. Nutrients. 2018; 10, 1012; doi:10.3390/nu10081012.
  • Jilcott Pitts SB, Ng SW, Blitstein J, Gustafson A, Niculescu M. Online grocery shopping: promise and pitfalls for healthier food and beverage purchases. Public Health Nutrition. 2018;21(18):3360-3376. doi: 10.1017/S1368980018002409. Epub 2018 Oct 19.