December 1, 2020 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
San Diego, native Roddrick Dugger came to UofSC to learn from the experts. Not only is the Arnold School’s Department of Exercise Science home to the best doctoral program in the country (recently ranked No.1 by the National Academy of Kinesiology for the second five-year period in a row), but it’s also a hub of expertise in his primary area of research: childhood obesity prevention.
Dugger has taken advantage of the resources and mentorship opportunities that accompany a top-ranked program led by giants in the field of exercise science, but he is also forging his own path. His work, which focuses on childhood obesity prevention among children from low-income and ethnic-minority backgrounds, employs something called the Positive Deviance approach to social and behavioral change.
“My research uses the Positive Deviance framework to identify children who live in under-resourced communities, yet manage to display favorable health behaviors such as high levels of physical activity and a healthy diet,” says Dugger, who will use multiple methodologies and GIS geospatial analysis to understand how families are able to succeed despite living in a disadvantaged context. “I plan to highlight what is going right in a community and seek to amplify it, rather than identifying what is wrong and attempting to fix it. I believe this approach restores a level of dignity to low-income, ethnic-minority families and may generate innovative solutions to complex health problems.”
I plan to highlight what is going right in a community and seek to amplify it, rather than identifying what is wrong and attempting to fix it.
-Roddrick Dugger, Ph.D. in Exercise Science student
Dugger’s interest in childhood obesity prevention among under-resourced youth is grounded in his experiences as an African American male. The poor health status of his community has made a lifelong impact on Dugger and motivated him to discover solutions and better practices to improve the health and well-being of at-risk youth.
He began his studies with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Oral Roberts University, followed by a Master of Public Health from the University of Oklahoma. During and after his master’s program, Dugger gained experience with state and local health departments. Working with the Oklahoma State Health Department, he assessed physical activity opportunities in the built environment. Through the Tulsa Health Department, he partnered with the local school system to educate students about various health topics (e.g., tobacco prevention, human growth/development, fitness in the classroom, stress management, conflict resolution) and assist with grant applications.
In 2018, Dugger arrived at UofSC with a National Institutes of Health Diversity Supplement in hand and hit the ground running. In 2020 alone, he has published four peer-reviewed papers (two as first author) and was awarded a Pre-doctoral Diversity Fellowship from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
I believe this approach restores a level of dignity to low-income, ethnic-minority families and may generate innovative solutions to complex health problems.
-Roddrick Dugger, Ph.D. in Exercise Science student
In addition to pursuing his own research interests, Dugger has immersed himself in the projects that drew him to UofSC in the first place. Assistant professor Glenn Weaver’s Healthy Summer Learners program and professor Michael Beets’ What’s Undermining Prevention During Summer study both offered opportunities for Dugger to explore how these potentially sustainable, scalable and beneficial projects could be used to promote healthy behaviors among children from low-income households. He also found a mentor in assistant professor Bridget Armstrong, whose work focuses on finding unique behavioral patterns that help address childhood obesity.
“I am blessed to have three excellent mentors, whose offices I visit quite frequently – so thankful for their open-door policy,” Dugger says. “Dr. Beets has influenced me to not be afraid to challenge norms and to critically evaluate the research questions we ask and how we go about answering them. Dr. Weaver inspires me to use appropriate research designs to answer my questions and to maintain a firm understanding of research concepts. Dr. Armstrong has influenced me to embrace mentorship for other students, often prompting me to speak more and share my emerging expertise with other students.”
As that experience grows, Dugger continues to learn from those around him while also advancing his own, unique approach to adressing childhood obesity. By pursuing a career in academia, he plans to leverage the knowledge and skills he is developing to benefit low-income and ethnic-minority children and their communities.