Tayla von Ash is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown University. She received her Sc.D. from Harvard University in 2018. Her research focuses on obesity prevention with an emphasis on racial and ethnic disparities, particularly during early childhood. She examines how behaviors that impact energy balance differ across groups and the contextual factors that contribute to those differences. Much of Professor von Ash’s current research focuses on insufficient sleep as a risk factor for obesity. She published the first study examining infant sleep disparities before six months of age, showing that differences in nighttime sleep duration across racial/ethnic groups are already present by one month, with Hispanic/Latino infants sleeping significantly less than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Building on this and other formative research, she is now in the process of designing a sleeping parenting intervention for Hispanic/Latina mothers. Her work has been supported by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Professor von Ash is also interested in technology-based interventions, global health, and community-engaged research.