Kyle Busse, PhD, MPH
Kyle Busse, PhD, MPH
Kyle Busse, PhD, MPH, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics whose work focuses on how lifestyle factors — including diet, physical activity, and sleep — influence reproductive and perinatal health. His interest in this area grew from early experiences in public health and education settings, where he saw firsthand the challenges many people face in maintaining a healthy diet.
In this Q&A, Kyle shares what motivates his research, what he enjoys about the DBEI community, and how he spends time outside the lab.
Can you tell us about your current research and what inspired you to pursue this area?
I study how changes in a person’s lifestyle may improve their reproductive or perinatal health. My work includes studies of the relationship between dietary patterns and female and male fertility, the effect of calcium supplementation on the risk of pre-eclampsia, and the roles of diet, physical activity, and sleep during pregnancy for preventing preterm birth.
I was first introduced to epidemiology as an undergraduate student. I was drawn to the idea of improving population health through discovering the things that make us healthier – or less healthy. Two experiences during this time were particularly important in setting me on my current research and career path. First, I spent a few months in Cochabamba, Bolivia, volunteering in the education department of a diabetes clinic. Every day, I spoke with patients about the challenges that they faced in maintaining normal blood glucose levels and managing the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. It quickly became clear to me that eating a healthy diet was a persistent obstacle for these patients. Second, after graduating from college, I worked as a teacher’s aide in the kindergarten and 1st-grade classrooms of a summer education program for kids whose parents were seasonal farm workers. I loved every second of that job, even when I was covered with whatever sticky foods were being served in the cafeteria on any given day. It was during those moments in the cafeteria with my students, surrounded by the processed, sugary, greasy foods served to them three times a day, that I came to the same realization that I had come to a continent away: eating a healthy diet is hard. Several years later, these experiences inspired my dissertation research on ultra-processed foods and their relationship with cardiometabolic health in adolescence and early adulthood, and they continue to inspire my interests in the importance of diet and lifestyle during preconception and pregnancy.
How does your research intersect with real-world challenges?
One in six couples experiences infertility. For those who wish to have a child, the cost of doing so can be steep, with one cycle of in vitro fertilization at roughly $15,000 and the total cost often exceeding $40,000. And this isn’t the only burden; infertility treatment also takes a physical and psychological toll. If changes in lifestyle – improvements in diet quality, more exercise, another hour of sleep each night – can improve the chances of having a healthy pregnancy and birth, those financial, physical, and psychological burdens may be reduced.
Recently, the U.S. federal government announced initiatives aimed at making infertility treatment more affordable and accessible. The number of people using assisted reproductive technology, which includes in vitro fertilization, has more than doubled in the past decade, and with these new efforts to expand access, that number will likely continue to rise. That means that more couples and individuals will embark on the journey toward becoming parents using assisted reproductive technology. I hope that my work can help make that journey just a little bit easier.
What do you find most rewarding about working in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics?
The people. I am very fortunate to work with and learn from my outstanding mentors, Sunni Mumford, Stefanie Hinkle, Enrique Schisterman, and Ellie Caniglia, as well as the other postdocs and students who are part of the DBEI’s Center for Health Innovations in Reproductive and Perinatal Population Research (CHIRP). Since joining CHIRP, I have learned so much about not only reproductive and perinatal epidemiology, causal inference, and science communication, but also about being a thoughtful collaborator, a kind mentor, and a compassionate leader.
Can you share a significant recent project, publication, or professional recognition that you are particularly proud of contributing to or achieving?
One project to which I’ve given a lot of effort over the past year is a study of dietary patterns in relation to clinical fertility outcomes among couples seeking infertility treatment. I was invited to present these findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research in Boston last June, and hopefully, very soon, my co-authors and I will publish the findings. The project has been a lot of work, and it’s exciting to finally be at the stage where we get to share what we’ve learned.
Even though you asked about one project, I’m going to cheat and share one more! I am proud to be part of the incredible team of researchers at Penn and CHOP working on the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) study. A couple of weeks ago, our team enrolled the 1,250th participant, halfway to our goal of 2,500!
What advice would you give to students or early-career professionals in your field?
The first piece of advice is one that my grandpa – a bricklayer, not an epidemiologist – used to give me: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and everything is the small stuff.” The list of rejected papers and unfunded grant applications felt pretty long by the time I published my first paper and received my first award. Academia, like life (and bricklaying), is filled with “small stuff.” I have had to learn to pick myself up, dust off the sting of rejection, and take the long view – trusting that hard work and a little enthusiasm will eventually get me to where I want to go.
The second piece of advice is to find good mentors. For the students, postdocs, and junior faculty in DBEI, that shouldn’t be too much trouble – there is no shortage! Identify the people who believe in you and who are committed to helping you achieve your goals.
What is an interest or pastime that you enjoy outside of academia?
I love spending time outside – fly fishing, mountain biking, running, hiking, camping. If it’s in the woods or on the water, I love it! One of my favorite and most memorable outdoor adventures was biking La Carretera de la Muerte (“Death Road”), a 40-mile ride with 11,500 feet of descent from the Andes Mountains outside of La Paz, Bolivia, to the Amazon Rainforest in the country’s Yungas region. A more recent, but equally thrilling, adventure has been teaching my 2-year-old daughter to ride her balance bike!