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Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance (2005)

Chapter: Appendix F: Biographical Sketches

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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F
Biographical Sketches

Jeffrey P. Koplan, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair), is the Vice President for Academic Health Affairs at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University in Atlanta. He received a B.A. from Yale College, M.D. from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is board certified in internal and preventive medicine. From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Koplan served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. He worked in the area of enhancing the interactions between clinical medicine and public health by leading the Prudential Center for Health Care Research, a nationally recognized health services research organization. Dr. Koplan has worked on a broad range of major public health issues, including infectious diseases such as smallpox and HIV/AIDS, environmental issues such as the Bhopal chemical disaster, and the health toll of tobacco and chronic diseases, both in the United States and globally. Dr. Koplan is a Master of the American College of Physicians, an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Public Health Educators, and a Public Health Hero of the American Public Health Association. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999. He has served on many advisory groups and consultancies on public health issues in the United States and overseas and authored more than 170 scientific papers.


Dennis M. Bier, M.D., is Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Houston. Prior to this appointment, he was Co-director of the Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism Division and Director of the Pediatric Clinical Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Bier received his B.S. from LeMoyne College and his M.D. from New Jersey College of Medicine. Dr. Bier’s primary research interests are focused on the regulation of inter-organ transport of metabolic fuels with a special emphasis on the substrate and hormonal regulation of glucose, lipid, and protein/amino acid fuels. He has expertise in the areas of nutrition in human health and in the prevention and treatment of disease, particularly the role of maternal, fetal, and childhood nutrition on the growth, development, and health of children through adolescence; the long-term consequences of nutrient inadequacy during critical periods of embryonic and fetal life, infancy, and childhood on the pathogenesis of adult chronic diseases; macronutrients; intermediary metabolism; tracer kinetics; and diabetes, obesity, and endocrine disorders. Dr. Bier has served as President of the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Chair of the USDA/ARS Human Studies Review Committee, Councilor for the American Pediatric Society, and as a member of the 1995 USDA/HHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the IOM’s Food and Nutrition Board (FNB), and the IOM Committee on Implications of Dioxin in the Food Supply. He was elected to the IOM in 1997. He currently serves on the Board of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) North America, and he is a member of the McDonald’s Global Advisory Council on Healthy Lifestyles.


Leann L. Birch, Ph.D., is the Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Birch’s research has focused on the development of eating behaviors in infants, children, and adolescents. Her research explores factors shaping food preferences in infants and children, regulation of food intake in children, dieting and problems of energy balance in school-age girls, predictors of maternal child feeding styles, and parental and environmental influences on children’s dietary practices. She currently receives research support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Dr. Birch has received national and international recognition for her work including the Lederle Award from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences. She is the author of more than 150 publications.


Ross C. Brownson, Ph.D., is Professor of Epidemiology and the Chair of the Department of Community Health at St. Louis University School of Public Health in Missouri. He was formerly Division Director with the Missouri Department of Health. He received his Ph.D. in environmental health and epidemiology at Colorado State University. Dr. Brownson is a

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

chronic disease epidemiologist whose research has focused on tobacco use prevention, promotion of physical activity, and the evaluation of community-level interventions. He is the principal investigator of a CDC-funded Prevention Research Center that is developing innovative approaches to chronic disease prevention among high-risk rural adults. Dr. Brownson is also developing and testing effective dissemination strategies for CDC designed to increase rates of physical activity among adults. Dr. Brownson receives research support from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to conduct a diabetes prevention study aimed at promoting walking among high-risk rural adults. Dr. Brownson receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to understand the environmental characteristics of activity-friendly communities and to measure the perceptual qualities of urban settings through RWJF’s Active Living Research program. He is a member of numerous editorial boards and is associate editor of the Annual Review of Public Health. Dr. Brownson is the author or editor of several books including Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Control, Applied Epidemiology, and Evidence-Based Public Health.


John Cawley, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University. Dr. Cawley received his undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Cawley joined the Cornell faculty in 2001 after spending two years as a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on health economics, in particular the economics of obesity. He is currently studying the effect of body weight on labor market outcomes such as wage rates, unemployment, and employment disability; the role of body weight in the decision of adolescents to initiate smoking; the demand for anti-obesity pharmaceuticals; and the extent to which consumption of calories can be considered addictive. His research is conducted with support from the Economic Research Initiative on the Uninsured, the University of Michigan Retirement Research Consortium, J.P. Morgan Private Bank Global Philanthropic Services, RWJF, Merck, and USDA. In addition to his affiliation with Cornell, Dr. Cawley is a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research in the Health Economics and Health Care programs. He also serves on an advisory board to the CDC’s Project MOVE: Measurement of the Value of Exercise.


George R. Flores, M.D., M.P.H., is a Senior Program Officer with The California Endowment, a major health foundation, where his focus is on disparities in health status, prevention of childhood obesity, community-based public health, and health policy. Dr. Flores served previously as

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Health Officer and Director of Public Health in San Diego and Sonoma Counties, Deputy Health Officer in Santa Barbara County, Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, and Program Director for Project HOPE in Guatemala. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. Dr. Flores is an alumnus of the University of Utah College of Medicine, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Public Health Leadership Institute. He has served on the IOM Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century.


Simone A. French, Ph.D., is Professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She received a B.A. in psychology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Dr. French’s expertise and research focuses broadly on the social and environmental influences on eating and physical activity behaviors, community-based strategies for eating behavior change, and adolescent nutrition and physical activity. Her obesity prevention research has focused on pricing strategies to promote sales of lower fat foods in cafeterias and vending machines, and changing the availability and promotion of healthful foods in school cafeterias to influence student food choices. She has also researched eating disorders, dieting, and other weight management strategies among adolescents and adults. Dr. French presently receives research support that focuses on obesity and nutrition from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and NICHD. She serves as co-editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Dr. French has authored more than 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed academic journals.


Susan L. Handy, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California at Davis. She earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Princeton University, an M.S. in civil engineering from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Handy’s research focuses on the relationships between transportation and land use, including the impact of land use on travel behavior, and the impact of transportation investments on land development patterns. Her work is directed toward developing strategies to enhance accessibility and reduce automobile dependence, including land use policies and telecommunications services. She is the Chair of the Committee on Telecommunications and Travel Behavior and a member of the Committee on Transportation and Land Development of the Transportation Research Board. She is also a

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

co-principal investigator on a project funded by The RWJF’s Active Living and Environmental Studies Program.


Robert C. Hornik, Ph.D., is the Wilbur Schramm Professor of Communication and Health Policy at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He has a wide range of experience in mass-media communication evaluations, ranging from breastfeeding promotion, AIDS education, immunization and child survival projects, to anti-drug and domestic violence media campaigns at the community, national, and international levels. Dr. Hornik has served as a member of the IOM Committee on International Nutrition Programs, the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Communication for Behavior Change in the 21st Century: Improving the Health of Diverse Populations, and the NRC Committee to Develop a Strategy to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. He has received the Andreasen Scholar award in social marketing, and the Fisher Mentorship award from the International Communication Association. He has also been a consultant to other agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, UNICEF, CDC, and the World Bank. Dr. Hornik serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including Social Marketing Quarterly and the Journal of Health Communication. Dr. Hornik was the scientific director for the evaluation of the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign and he is currently the director of the University of Pennsylvania’s National Cancer Institute-funded Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research. He most recently edited Public Health Communication and was the author of Development Communication, and co-author of Educational Reform with Television: The El Salvador Experience, and Toward Reform of Program Evaluation.


Douglas B. Kamerow, M.D., M.P.H., is the Chief Scientist for Health, Social, and Economics Research at RTI International where he focuses on health-related behaviors, evidence-based care, and improving the quality of health care. Among his responsibilities is serving as principal investigator on an evaluation of the RWJF’s National Diabetes Program. He is also a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Georgetown University. A family physician who is also board certified in preventive medicine, Dr. Kamerow received his A.B. from Harvard College, M.D. from the University of Rochester, and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. While a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, he served as Director of the Center for Practice and Technology Assessment, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services and Director of the Clinical Preventive Services staff of the Public Health Service Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. He conceived and supervised

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

the creation of the Evidence-based Practice Centers Program and the National Guideline Clearinghouse, was managing editor of the first and second editions of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, and led the development of the Put Prevention into Practice campaign, which sought to incorporate clinical preventive services, including nutrition counseling, into routine medical practice.


Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., is Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and the Director of the Graduate Program in Public Health Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She received her B.A. from Syracuse University, M.S.W. from Columbia University, Ph.D. in human nutrition from Cornell University, and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. The main themes in Dr. Kumanyika’s research concern the role of nutritional factors in the primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases with a particular focus on obesity, sodium reduction, and related health problems such as hypertension and diabetes. She directs a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded EXPORT (Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research, and Training) Center that focuses on reduction of obesity-related health disparities. Dr. Kumanyika is the lead investigator or a collaborator on several federally-funded studies of obesity prevention and treatment in adults and children, of which some focus specifically on African Americans. She has served on a number of expert panels, including the 1995 and 2000 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committees, and she served on the NIH Advisory Committee for the National Children’s Study in 2002-2003. She was vice-chair of the Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases in 2002, and also chaired the 2002 WHO Expert Consultation on Appropriate BMI Standards for Asian Populations. Dr. Kumanyika’s current activities include serving on the IOM’s FNB, the NIH Clinical Obesity Research Panel, and the Prevention Group of the International Obesity Task Force. She was elected to the IOM in 2003.


Barbara J. Moore, Ph.D., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Shape Up America!, a national initiative to promote healthy weight and increased physical activity in America. She earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Skidmore College, received her M.S. and Ph.D. in nutrition from Columbia University, and served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in nutrition and physiology at the University of California at Davis. Previous positions include service as Deputy Director in the Division of Nutrition Research Coordination at the NIH, Acting Assistant Director of Social and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Behavioral Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Chief Nutritionist of Weight Watchers International, and Assistant Professor of Nutrition at Rutgers University. Dr. Moore has conducted research on animal models of obesity and on addressing the public health and socioeconomic implications of obesity in the United States. She has served on the IOM Subcommittee on Military Weight Management.


Arie L. Nettles, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Research Scientist of Education, and previously served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the study of academic achievement and the impact of sickle cell disease on children and equity issues in educational assessment. Prior to her appointment at the University of Michigan, she was an Assistant Professor of School Psychology at the University of Tennessee. Other faculty appointments include Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and Trenton State College. Dr. Nettles has been a public school teacher in Iowa and Tennessee and a practicing school psychologist in Kentucky and New Jersey. She is a licensed psychologist in Tennessee and Michigan, and nationally certified in school psychology, endorsed by the National Association of School Psychology. She has a B.S. in social science education and M.S. in education administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She received a Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University specializing in clinical and school psychology. Dr. Nettles has served on the NRC Committee on Goals 2000 and the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities.


Russell R. Pate, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean for Research and a Professor at the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina in Columbia. He received a B.S. in physical education from Springfield College, and M.S. and Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the University of Oregon. Dr. Pate’s research interest and expertise focuses on physical activity measurement, determinants, and promotion in children and youth. He also directs a national postgraduate course aimed at developing research competencies related to physical activity and public health. Dr. Pate is also involved in the CDC-funded Prevention Research Center at the University of South Carolina. His research includes studies on preschoolers’ physical activity levels and how schools can influence these levels and multicenter trials on the promotion of physical activity among middle and high school-age girls. Dr. Pate serves as an investigator for the RWJF Active for Life program that encourages physical activity among seniors. He is a Past-President of both the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Coalition on Promoting Physical Activity.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

John C. Peters, Ph.D., is the Associate Director of Food and Beverage Technology and Director of the Nutrition Science Institute at Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati. He received his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of California at Davis and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and nutrition from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Peters’ research has focused on amino acid metabolism and dietary intake, triglycerides and lipid levels in humans, effects of weight cycling on susceptibility to obesity, and effects of fat replacements on energy, fat intake, and micronutrient metabolism. He has served on the scientific advisory board of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute; on the planning committee of the Cincinnati Health Improvement Collaborative; as Vice Chair of the scientific advisory board of the ILSI Center for Health Promotion; and Treasurer of the public-private Partnership for Healthy Eating and Active Living. Dr. Peters is currently President of the ILSI Center for Health Promotion.


Thomas N. Robinson, M.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and of Medicine in the Division of General Pediatrics and Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Robinson received both his B.S. and M.D. from Stanford University and M.P.H. in maternal and child health from the University of California at Berkeley. He completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Boston and at Harvard Medical School, and then returned to Stanford for postdoctoral training as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Robinson’s community-, school-, and family-based health behavior change research has focused on nutrition, physical activity, and smoking behavior in children and adolescents; the effects of television viewing on health-related behaviors; childhood obesity prevention and treatment; and using interactive communication technologies to promote health behavior change. Dr. Robinson was an RWJF Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar awardee during his participation on this committee. Dr. Robinson is board certified in pediatrics, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and practices general pediatrics and directs the Center for Healthy Weight at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.


Charles Royer, B.S., is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Washington with appointments in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine and in the Evans School of Public Affairs. He is also National Program Director of the Urban Health Initiative, an effort to improve the health and safety of children across five regions. He holds a B.S. from the University of Oregon. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Royer was Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and Lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, Mr. Royer served as Mayor of Seattle from 1978 to 1989, following a career in newspaper and television journalism. He has

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

served as President of the National League of Cities and as a member of the National Commission on State and Local Public Service, the Democratic National Committee, and the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. He was named one of the top 20 American mayors in 1988 and received the 1989 Distinguished Urban Mayor Award from the National Urban Coalition.


Shirley R. Watkins, M.Ed., is an Educational and Nutrition Services Consultant. From 1997 to 2001, she was Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at USDA, the first African-American woman to hold that position. In that capacity she oversaw USDA’s food assistance programs and its dietary guidance promotion efforts. She also served USDA as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. Before joining USDA in 1993, Ms. Watkins was Director of Nutrition Services for Memphis, Tennessee city schools. Previous positions included food-service supervisor, home economics teacher, elementary school teacher, and a home demonstration agent with the University of Arkansas Extension Service. She is a past president of the American School Food Services Association. She received a B.S. in home economics from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and an M.Ed. from the University of Memphis.


Robert C. Whitaker, M.D., M.P.H., is a Senior Fellow at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey. Before joining Mathematica he was a Visiting Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. His research has focused on the childhood antecedents of adult chronic disease. This has included studies on school nutrition, obesity prevention strategies in preschool children, parent-child feeding interaction, the epidemiology of childhood obesity, and the determinants of social and emotional well-being in children. He served on the IOM Committee on Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program. Dr. Whitaker received a B.A. in chemistry from Williams College, an M.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. from the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Whitaker completed his residency and fellowship in pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and he received postdoctoral training as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

IOM Staff

Tazima A. Davis is a Research Associate in the FNB at the IOM and has been with the FNB since September 2000. Prior to joining the National Academies, she worked as a Quality Control Supervisor with Kraft Foods and Bestfoods Foodservice. Ms. Davis earned a B.S. in food science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). During her undergraduate years at UIUC, she participated in research internships including ice cream ingredient development in Chicago; applied food microbiology research in Boslwart, Netherlands; and carotenoid research in Urbana, Illinois.


Vivica I. Kraak, M.S., R.D., is a Senior Program Officer in the IOM’s FNB. In addition to working on the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth Study, she directs the international activities within FNB. She received her B.S. in nutritional sciences from Cornell University and completed a coordinated M.S. in nutrition and dietetic internship at Case Western Reserve University and the University Hospitals of Cleveland. Prior to joining the IOM in 2002, she worked as a Clinical Dietitian at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and as a Public Health Nutritionist specializing in HIV disease in New York City. From 1994 to 2000, she was a Research Nutritionist in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, where she collaborated on several domestic and international food policy and community nutrition research initiatives. She has co-authored a variety of publications related to food security and community food systems, nutrition and HIV/AIDS, international food aid and food security, viewpoints about genetically engineered foods, use of dietary supplements, and the influence of commercialism on the food and nutrition-related decisions and behaviors of children and youth.


Catharyn T. Liverman, M.L.S., is a Senior Program Officer in the FNB and the Board on Health Sciences Policy at the IOM. She served as study director for this study. In 12 years at IOM, she has worked on projects addressing a number of topics, including veterans’ health, drug abuse, injury prevention, and clinical trials of testosterone therapy. IOM reports she has co-edited include Testosterone and Aging: Clinical Research Directions; Gulf War and Health, Vol. 1; Reducing the Burden of Injury; Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Resources; and The Development of Medications for the Treatment of Opiate and Cocaine Addiction. Her background is in medical library science, with previous jobs at the National Agricultural Library and the Naval War College Library. She received her B.A. from Wake Forest University and her M.L.S. from the University of Maryland.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Rose Marie Martinez, Sc.D., is the Director of the IOM’s Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention . Prior to joining the IOM, Dr. Martinez was a Senior Health Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research from 1995 to 1999 where she conducted research on the impact of health system change on the public health infrastructure, access to care for vulnerable populations, managed care, and the health-care workforce. Dr. Martinez is a former Assistant Director for Health Financing and Policy with the U.S. General Accounting Officewhere she directed evaluations and policy analysis in the area of national and public health issues. She also served as Chief of Health Studies at the Regional Institute for Health and Social Welfare, the research arm of the Regional Ministry of Health in Madrid, Spain. Dr. Martinez received her B.A. from the University of Southern California and her Doctor of Science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.


Linda D. Meyers, Ph.D., is the Director of the IOM’s FNB. She has also served as FNB Deputy Director and as a Senior Program Officer. Prior to joining the IOM in 2001, she worked for 15 years in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services where she was a Senior Nutrition Advisor, Deputy Director, and Acting Director. Dr. Meyers has received a number of awards for her contributions to public health, including the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award for Healthy People 2010 and the Surgeon General’s Medallion. Dr. Meyers has a B.A. in health and physical education from Goshen College in Indiana, M.S. in food and nutrition from Colorado State University, and Ph.D. in nutritional sciences from Cornell University.


Janice Rice Okita, Ph.D., R.D., is a Senior Program Officer in the IOM’s FNB. Since joining the IOM in 2002, she has worked on projects involving evaluation of the safety of dietary supplements for the Food and Drug Administration, and reviewing the food packages used in the USDA Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Dr. Okita participated in biomedical research in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Washington State University in Pullman from 1990-2001; the Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee from 1988-1990; and the Platelet Biochemistry Laboratory, Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee from 1982-1988. Dr. Okita earned a B.S. in human food and nutrition from Florida State University in Tallahassee, and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas. She is a Registered Dietitian and practiced clinical dietetics in Dallas from 1972 to 1974.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Shannon L. Ruddy is a Senior Program Assistant in the FNB at the IOM. She has also worked with the NRC where she worked on several reports, including Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk, Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services, Government Data Centers: Meeting Increasing Demands, Resolving Conflicts Arising from the Privatization of Environmental Data, Review of EarthScope Integrated Science, and National Spatial Data Infrastructure Partnership Programs: Rethinking the Focus. She has been with the National Academies since 2001. She holds a B.A. in environmental science from LaSalle University in Philadelphia. Previously, she worked as a Researcher for Booz-Allen & Hamilton in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 3 CERCLA/ Superfund Records Center.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F: Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking development—an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century.

Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

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