4437-B S. Laspina St.
Tulare, CA 93274
(559) 684-3318
iopadasas@ucanr.edu

Also in:
Fresno-Madera Cooperative Extension
Kings County
Biography
Dr. Irene Padasas is the Community Nutrition and Health Advisor for UCCE Tulare, Kings, Fresno, and Madera Counties. She has diverse experiences in Extension programming with a special focus on factors that support socioemotional wellbeing of underserved youth and nutritional needs of young children such as “UpStarts” which is focused on promoting positive youth development of rural high school students through a localized youth entrepreneurship program, and “EAT Family Style” which supports young children’s nutritional health behaviors through ECE practitioners' responsive feeding practices at mealtimes. She has extensive training in different aspects of Extension programming- from conducting needs assessment, generating ideas for programming, testing/piloting, evaluation, and information dissemination. Dr. Padasas also conducts research to explore social and cultural factors that impact health and wellbeing of ethnic and migrant families. She earned a Master’s Degree in Developmental Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and her PhD in Human Science with a specialization in Global Family Health and Wellbeing at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
Education
Awards
- National Council on Family Relations Student/New Professional Issues 2020 in Aging Award
Presented by National Council on Family Relations, 2020
- Team Member, "An Ecological Approach to (EAT) Family Style Dining, "1st Place National Winner” and “1st Place Central Region Winner” in the 2019 NEASFCS Annual Program Award
Presented by National Extension Association of Family Consumer Sciences, 2019
Bibliography
Peer Reviewed
Dev, D., Padasas, I., Hillsburnce, C., Stage, V., & Dzewaltowski, D. A. (2022). Using the RE-AIM Framework in formative evaluation of the EAT Family Style Multilevel Intervention. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
Tippens, J. A., Roselius, K., Padasas, I., Khalaf, G., Kohel, K., Mollard, E., & Sheikh, I. (2021). Cultural Bereavement and Resilience in Refugee Resettlement: A Photovoice Study With Yazidi Women in the Midwest United States. Qualitative Health Research, 31(8), 1486-1503.
Williams, B. D., Sisson, S. B., Padasas, I. O., & Dev, D. A. (2021). Food program participation influences nutrition practices in early care and education settings. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 53(4), 299-308.
Roselius, K., Tippens, J. A., Kohel, K., & Padasas, I.O. (2020). More than an afterthought: Importance of Family in U.S. Refugee Resettlement. National Council for Family Relations Report.
De Guzman, M. R. T., Kim, S., Taylor, S., & Padasas, I. (2020). Rural communities as a context for entrepreneurship: Exploring perceptions of youth and business owners. Journal of Rural Studies, 80, 45-52.
Non-Peer Reviewed
Padasas, I. O. (2022). Relationship Matters: Social Capital as Predictors of Underrepresented Minorities’ College Success (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln).
de Guzman, M. R. T., Garcia, A., Padasas, I., & Landoy, B. (2019). Parenting and the prosocial behaviors of children across cultures. In D. Laible, G. Carlo, & L. Padilla Walker (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Parenting and Moral Development. Oxford University Press.