Laren (Riesche) Narapareddy

Laren (Riesche) Narapareddy

PhD, RN
Assistant Professor, tenure track

About

Laren Narapareddy, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor, tenure track, at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Dr. Narapareddy received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was the inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar. She went on to complete an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania where she received training in Penn’s Epigenetics Institute.

Dr. Narapareddy's research focuses on optimizing health from the earliest stages of life by exploring how placental epigenetic mechanisms link the prenatal health of a mother to the short- and long-term health of her children. As a faculty member, Dr. Narapareddy combines her passion for interdisciplinary research with her active commitment to mentorship and educating the next generation of health professionals. "

Areas of Expertise

Biological Behavioral Omics
Maternal And Infant Health Midwifery
Obesity
Womens Health

Publications

Rhon-Calderon EA, Riesche L, Vrooman L, and Bartolomei MS. (2019). The effects of assisted reproductive technologies on genomic imprinting in the placenta. Placenta. doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2019.02.013

Riesche L, and Bartolomei MS. (2019). Assisted reproductive technologies and the placenta: Clinical, morphological and molecular outcomes. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine. doi:10.1055/s-0038-1676640

Riesche L, Tardif SD, Ross CN, deMartelly VA, Ziegler T, and Rutherford JN. (2018). The common marmoset monkey: Avenues for exploring prenatal, placental and postnatal mechanisms in developmental programming of pediatric obesity. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00164.2017

Lee YM, Riesche L, and Lee, H. (2018). Parental HPV knowledge and perceptions of HPV vaccines among Korean American parents. Applied Nursing Research, 44, 54–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.APNR.2018.09.008

Fritschi C, Park H, Richardson A, Park C, Collins EG, Mermelstein R, Riesche L, and Quinn L. (2015). Association between daily time spent in sedentary behavior and duration of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. Biological Research for Nursing. doi: 10.1177/1099800415600065

Lee, Y., Florez, E., Tariman, J., McCarter, S., and Riesche, L. (2015). Factors related to sexual behaviors and sexual education programs for Asian-American adolescents. Journal of Applied Nursing Research, 28(3), 222-228. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2015.04.015

Teaching

As an educator, Dr. Narapareddy is dedicated to creating a learning environment which instills passion and curiosity, while supplying students with the tools necessary for seeking and applying new knowledge. Her teaching interests stem directly from her research and clinical experiences as a nurse caring for mothers and infants. She is passionate about integrating (epi)genomics and (epi)genetics into nursing education and embraces lab-based learning techniques. In addition to classroom and lab-based teaching, she is an ardent advocate for the power of mentorship in nursing education.

Research

The cornerstone of Dr. Narapareddy's program of research is the placenta. During the prenatal period, the placenta is the active interface between the mother and fetus. Placental function influences not just the health of a woman and her fetus during pregnancy, but also the lifelong health of both individuals. Dr. Narapareddy’s research focuses on untangling the complex relationships between maternal health, placental function, and long-term health of offspring. She is particularly interested in understanding how maternal health can alter epigenetic regulation of the placenta in ways that have consequences for health and disease later in life.

Awards