College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Community Sustainability

Dr. Chelsea Wentworth is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine in the College of Human Medicine, and affiliate faculty with the Department of Community Sustainability and the Global Health Institute at Michigan State University. Dr. Wentworth is a community-engaged social scientist, engaging mixed-methods research to study the social and ecological determinants that impact health outcomes for children and families. While working both domestically and internationally, her work is united through 1) its grounding in community- engagement and collaboration among diverse stakeholders for policy change and 2) improving health equity through evidence-based recommendations.

Dr. Wentworth’s interdisciplinary research examines hunger and nutrition security, food sovereignty, patient/provider/community communication, and the social-ecological factors that shape wellbeing. Drawing on expertise in a variety of qualitative methods, Dr. Wentworth engages community partners to better understand and improve public health through a systems-based approach. Dr. Wentworth works with Indigenous families across Michigan, with Indigenous communities in the Pacific Islands in Vanuatu and Guam, and with the broader community in Flint, Michigan, and with community partners in Chicago, Illinois. She is engaged with several projects including: long-term ethnographic research on health education that can reduce growth stunting in children under age five in partnership with the Vanuatu Ministry of Health; research examining the impacts of community-based medical education and immersive engaged-learning activities in shaping patient/provider communication; and with the Wiba Anung team studying early relational wellbeing and food sovereignty particularly in early childhood settings in partnership with the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan. These projects have broader applications in the fields of health and public policy as governments and practitioners work to improve wellbeing for communities, while building robust and healthy partnerships.

Dr. Wentworth has received funding from a variety of grantors including the NIH, US Fulbright Program, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research within the USDA, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Her publications appear in a variety of interdisciplinary outlets including: Social Science and Medicine, Sustainability Science, Public Health Nutrition, Teaching and Learning in Medicine; Environmental Science and Policy, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and Ecology and Society. Dr. Wentworth regularly teaches COM 829, Community Engagement in Global Health, as well as courses on structural competency in the medical school. She mentors graduate students in a variety of interdisciplinary research projects.

Education

Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, 2014
MPH Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 2014
B.S. Environmental Studies and Applications, Michigan State University, 2007
B.A. English, Michigan State University, 2007

Selected Publications

Indicates: ⁺Senior Author, *Student co-author, **Community Partner co-author

2026    Wentworth, C., J. Saucedo*, H. Howard, L. Martin**, D. Gartner, B. Stonefish**, R. B. Schneider**, M. Leask**, C. Gordon**, C. Hopps**, J. McClellan**, R. Burnett, J. V. Barnes-Najor, A. Cameron**. “Mobilizing and Promoting Family Well-Being through Indigenous Food Systems.” Public Health Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980026103048

2026    Wentworth, C., R. Lembi*, A. Wachuku**, M. McNall, J. Hodbod, K. McClelland**, S.

Farah**, L. Ferguson**, B. Brown**, D. Ross**. “Sustaining Scenarios: Researcher-practitioner reflections on extending research beyond project boundaries.” Sustainability Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-026-01863-3

2025    Wentworth, Chelsea and A. Emiko Blalock. “’Good mothers, Lazy mothers”: Analyzing impacts of individual responsibility discourse in maternal and child healthcare in Vanuatu.” Social Science and Medicine 382.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118319  

2024    Barnes-Najor, J., B. Stonefish**, C. Wentworth, D. Gartner, J. Saucedo*, H. Howard-Bobiwash, P. Koval*, R. Burnett, L. Martin**, M. Leask**, R. Schneider**, C. Hopps**, C. Gordon**, A. Cameron**. Stories and Reflections on Gikinawaabi: Recentering Indigenous knowledge in early childhood development through food- and land-based practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 69, Supplement: S102-S117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.12.014

2024    Wentworth, Chelsea, Diane Doberneck, Jessica Barnes-Najor, Mindy Smith, Mallet Reid*, Jen Hirsh*. Feminist Community Engagement Disrupted: Pathways for Boundary Spanning and Engagement During Disruption. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 28(3):59-71. Permalink: https://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/jheoe/article/view/3558 

2024    Lembi, Rafael*, Chelsea Wentworth⁺, Jennifer Hodbod. Recipe for a Scenario: Moving from vision to actionable pathways towards sustainable futures. Progress in Environmental Geography 3(2):89-114. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687241253616 

2024    Wentworth, Chelsea, M. Torres Arroyo*, R. Lembi*, B. Feingold, D. Freeman, S. Gray, J. Hodbod, B. Jablonski, K. M. Janda-Thomte, P. Lemoine, A. Nielsen, X. Romeiko, D. Salvo, L. Schmitt Olabisi, A. van den Berg, O. Yamoah. Navigating Community Engagement in Participatory Modeling of Food Systems. Environmental Science and Policy 152(103645). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103645           

2023    Chelsea Wentworth, Phillip Warsaw, Krista Isaacs, Abou Traore, Angel Hammon*, Arena Lewis*. The Resilience and Viability of Farmers Markets as an Alternative Food Network: Case studies from Michigan. Agriculture and Human Values 40:1481-1496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10445-3 

2022    Wentworth, Chelsea, Jennifer Hodbod, and Andrew Gerard*. Blurring the Boundaries: Cross-scale analyses of food systems. Ecology and Society. 27(4): Article 35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13460-270435

2022    Schmitt Olabisi, Laura, Chelsea Wentworth⁺, Kent Key, Renée V. Wallace**, Miles McNall, Jennifer Hodbod, Steven A. Gray. Defining Success in Community-University Partnerships: Lessons Learned from Flint. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 10(1):1-23 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2022.2102567

2022    Hodbod, Jennifer and Chelsea Wentworth⁺. Assessing Panarchy in Food Systems: Cross scale interactions in Flint, Michigan, USA. In Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines. Edited by Gunderson, L.H., Allen, C., and Garmestani, A. Washington DC: Island Press, Pp: 227-252.         

2022    Warsaw, Phil, Chelsea Wentworth⁺, Krista Issacs, Arena Lewis*, and Abou Traore. Manager and Vendor Perceptions of Farmer’s Market Impacts on Communities: Evidence from Michigan. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 42(7/8): 712-726. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-10-2021-0268

2022    Wentworth, Chelsea and Dessie Clark*. Language, Publication, and the Advancement of Feminist Praxis. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society. 29(3): 1100-1120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxab044

2021    Belisle-Toler, Rachael*, Jennifer Hodbod, and Chelsea Wentworth. A Mixed Methods Approach to Exploring Values that Inform Desirable Food System Futures. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy. 17(1): 362-376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1996768     

2020    Wentworth, Chelsea and Kalsrap, Julie**. Critiques and Conversations Concerning the Anthropological “Family.” In Reciprocity Rules: Friendship and Compensation in Fieldwork Encounters. Edited by Michelle Johnson and Edmund Q.S. Searles. Lexington Books, Pp 99-121. 

2020    Jablonski, Becca, Joy Casnovsky, Jill Clark, Rebecca Cleary, Beth Feingold, Darcy Freeman, Steven Gray, Xiaobo Romeiko, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Alexandra van den Berg, Colleen Walsh, and Chelsea Wentworth. Emergency Food Provision for Children and Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examples from five U.S. cities. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 42(1): 169-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13096

2019    Wentworth, Chelsea. Unhealthy Aid: Food security programming and disaster responses to Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. Anthropological Forum 30(1-2): 73-90. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2019.1647830