Helen DuPree knows what it means to be a successful student. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English, a Master of Arts in Teaching in Health and Physical Education and a Master of Science in Health Promotion. Now, she gets to add a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Georgia College of Public Health to that impressive list.  

“I love thinking about why people behave the way that they do and how we can communicate about health information in a way that might influence behavior for the better,” said DuPree. “I think we have lots of ways that we can improve our collective approaches to health promotion. I wanted to learn more about that.” 

DuPree became a doctoral student with the Department of Health Promotion & Behavior in 2022. She also works full time as a lecturer at Georgia College & State University in the School of Health & Human Performance, commuting from Milledgeville to Athens for her classes. DuPree said it’s been one of the most challenging things she’s done professionally. However, it’s taught her resilience, and she’s enjoyed being a student herself while teaching her undergraduate and graduate students at GCSU. 

“I like to try to open their horizons as far as knowing what options there are. Of course, there’s academia. Of course, there’s continuing their studies, but there’s also such important work that needs to be done now that many of them will go on to do,” said DuPree. 

Those same students have been some of her loudest supporters, excited to call her Dr. DuPree as soon as she successfully defended her dissertation in March 2026. It was also working with her students in a nutrition class, coupled with her own personal experiences, that inspired her dissertation topic. 

She aimed to improve the understanding of eating disorder prevalence among college students, with a particular emphasis on the lesser known and understudied eating disorder atypical anorexia nervosa. Atypical anorexia nervosa, DuPree explained, is a condition in which individuals meet all the criteria for typical anorexia nervosa but are not underweight. 

“We found atypical anorexia nervosa to be pretty prevalent. 5.5% of my sample screened positive,” said DuPree. “We also looked at sociocultural influences as moderators of risk. The findings were largely what we were expecting with peers, family and the media having a significant influence on risk.” 

DuPree said the Health Promotion & Behavior doctoral program at the College of Public Health helped to equip her with the skills she needed to examine such an important topic more closely. She gained more confidence in conducting research and developed the critical ability to accept feedback and use it to grow and improve. 

In May, DuPree will join fellow doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate students to celebrate commencement. She has already accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at GCSU. But for her, learning doesn’t stop here.  

“I think we should always be learning. We should always be growing,” said DuPree. 

By Mackenzie Patterson