Congratulations on first place UURAF award, Kayla!

In April 2025, WELL member Kayla Tracey presented her undergraduate senior honors thesis at the Michigan State Undergraduate University Research and Arts Forum. Kayla completed her thesis under the supervision of MSU’s Dr. Blair Burnette and Dr. Kelly Klump. Her thesis evaluated the extent to which weight normativity is present in GLP-1 content on TikTok. Her findings showed that the majority of videos perpetuated weight normativity in similar ways (e.g. quantifying precise amounts of weight loss, body checking) to previous harmful weight loss content. Other key findings included videos presenting health claims such as GLP-1s improving mental and physical health (e.g. decreased anxiety, reduction of IBS symptoms) that are currently not supported by empirical evidence and many videos included promotional discount codes that can diminish the content’s accuracy.

Kayla received a first-place award in the Psychology category. Kayla plans to continue her work with Drs. Burnette and Klump and publish her findings in a peer-reviewed article.