Conference Tracks
Please select a track from the list below or choose SHOW ALL TRACKS to see all tracks.
Basic and Applied Research
Mini-Plenary: MP 2.2: BMI-How does it measure up?
Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely employed to describe the prevalence of obesity in populations, investigate health risks associated with obesity, and guide clinical care. Critics have raised questions about how well BMI captures body fat at the population and the individual level, and whether BMI is the best measure to capture obesity-associated co-morbidities. This session will discuss how well BMI captures body fat across the population, examine how BMI is related to disease processes in childhood and on into adulthood, and will offer recommendations regarding the use of BMI in the patient-oriented setting.
Please Click the Speaker names below to see their submitted biosketch.
Stephen Daniels, Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Colorado
Speaker submitted biosketch
Stephen R. Daniels, MD, PhD, is Professor of Pediatrics and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He also serves as Pediatrician-in-Chief and L. Joseph Butterfield Chair in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Colorado. Dr. Daniels' area of expertise is preventive cardiology, with a longtime interest in the application of sophisticated epidemiologic and biostatistical methods to pediatric clinical research problems. He is interested in the causes of blood pressure elevation and cholesterol abnormalities in children and adolescents, particularly the role that obesity may play in these health issues; development of structural and functional abnormalities in the heart and vascular system, including cardiovascular abnormalities occurring in pediatric patients with diabetes mellitus; as well as the relationship of left ventricular hypertrophy to obesity and hypertension. The role of lifestyle factors, such as diet and physical activity, is central to many of Dr. Daniels' studies. Dr. Daniels completed his residency in Pediatrics and his fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, in 1981 and 1984, respectively. Dr. Daniels held numerous academic and clinical appointments at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital before joining the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2006. Dr. Daniels received his MD from the University of Chicago; his MPH from Harvard University; and his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina.
Cynthia Ogden, Epidemiologist/NHANES Analysis Branch Chief, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Speaker submitted biosketch
Cynthia Ogden is an epidemiologist at the CDC overseeing the NHANES analysis group. Her research interests relate to nutrition, growth and obesity. Dr. Ogden has published extensively. She joined CDC as a member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service and has worked at the New York State Department of Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and she currently teaches at the George Washington University School of Public Health. She earned her Ph.D. and Master’s degrees from Cornell University.
Babette Zemel, Director, Nutrition and Growth Laboratory, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Speaker submitted biosketch
Dr. Zemel is a biological anthropologist by training and professor of pediatrics at the University of Perelman School of Medicine. She has been the director of the Nutrition and Growth Laboratory of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the past 20 years. Her research interests focus on understanding the factors that influence growth and body composition in healthy children and children with chronic diseases.
Speaker submitted biosketch
Dr. Dietz is the Director of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. He is also the Director of the STOP Obesity Alliance. From 1997-2012, he was the Director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the CDC. Prior to his appointment to the CDC, he was a Professor of Pediatrics at the Tuft's University School of Medicine, and Director of Clinical Nutrition at the Floating Hospital of New England Medical Center Hospitals. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970 and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from MIT. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a past-president of The Obesity Society and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition.
Presentations/Handouts
Mini-Plenary: MP 3.3: Stress, Youth & Obesity: Rethinking How Emotion Plays a Role in Eating Behaviors
Our brain’s response to psychological stress can lead to lowered executive function and potentially poor eating habits as early as preschool. Learn how maternal stress, modeling behaviors and the environment make a difference in childhood obesity. Discover the benefits of stress reduction and mindfulness strategies to enable healthier behaviors and decision-making. The relationship between stress, brain function and food choices will also be explored during this session.
Please Click the Speaker names below to see their submitted biosketch.
Joy Pieper, Affiliate Faculty, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Speaker submitted biosketch
Joy Pieper is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in Nutritional Biology and an MS in Food Science from the University of California at Davis. Her PhD research focused on early childhood eating behaviors while her master's research dug into the nutritional differences of organic, conventional, canned, fresh and frozen produce and was covered by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. She currently holds an affiliate faculty position at the Metropolitan State University of Denver teaching nutrition; offers nutrition counseling through a private practice; and creates and delivers seminars for parents on developing healthy eating behaviors in children.
Eleanor Tate, National Cancer Institute Training Fellow, Doctoral candidate, University of Southern California
Speaker submitted biosketch
Eleanor Tate is a doctoral candidate in the Health Behavior Research PhD Program at the University of Southern California. Her educational background includes Philosophy, BA, Cognitive Science, BA and Social Psychology, MA. Eleanor works with Drs. Genevieve Dunton and Mary Ann Pentz investigating approaches to child obesity prevention. Specific research interests include weight-related parenting practices, maternal stress and child obesity risk, low-income populations, school-based obesity prevention, food marketing to children, and the effects of scarcity on parent food purchase behavior.
Lucy Vezzuto, Coordinator, Student Mental Health and School Climate, Orange County Department of Education
Speaker submitted biosketch
Lucy A. Vezzuto, Ph.D., a Fulbright Scholar in Education, coordinates a regional student mental health initiative for the Orange County Dept. of Education. The CalMHSA-funded Student Mental Health Initiative provides training for school staff in prevention and early identification of student mental health issues; youth social and emotional development; school climate, and stress management and mindful awareness for adults and youth. Dr. Vezzuto received stress management training at UCLA’S Mindfulness Awareness Research Center, the UC Irvine’s Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine and at Harvard Medical School’s Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Speaker submitted biosketch
Trina Robertson is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at Dairy Council of California and manages program evaluation and adult print program development. She has worked to prioritize healthy eating among child and adults through behavior change resources for print and online. She also is active in social media channels. Trina has also worked with WIC and Head Start. She was proud to work with Orange County Health Care Agency to create a state-approved Rethink Your Drink tip sheet.
Presentations/Handouts
WS 1.3: Evaluation Frameworks Designed to Measure Public Health Impact
How do you measure the public health impact of a population-based effort? This session explores the use of the RE-AIM framework & a systematic methodology for quantifying intensity change based on event duration, population reach and strategy to evaluate the public health impact of 1) a large school-based nutrition program in California, 2) a local Latino health coalition in Kansas City, Kansas, and 3) policy, system, and environment change strategies for the SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) population in California.
Please Click the Speaker names below to see their submitted biosketch.
Speaker submitted biosketch
Vicki Collie-Akers, Ph.D., M.P.H. is Associate Director of Health Promotion Research at the University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development. Her research is primarily focused on applying a community-based participatory research orientation to working with communities to understand how collaborative partnerships and coalitions can improve social determinants of health and equity and reduce disparities in health outcomes. She serves as principle investigator on several projects promoting health equity in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Andrew Larsen, Graduate Student, University of Southern California
Speaker submitted biosketch
Receiving his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Southern California, Dr. Larsen’s research focuses on motivation for the self-regulation of health behaviors. His studies span social-cognitive models of self-regulation, environmental influences of health behaviors, and relatively automatic processes of self-regulation, such as impulsivity and habits. Conducting both applied and theoretical research, Dr. Larsen utilizes a wide range of longitudinal and multivariate statistical techniques, including Structural Equation Modeling and Hierarchical Linear Modeling.
Speaker submitted biosketch
Currently at the University of California and formerly at the Public Health Institute, Lauren Whetstone evaluates obesity prevention policy, system, and environmental strategies implemented by local health departments as part of their California Department of Public Health SNAP-Ed grants. Lauren has a PhD in applied cognitive psychology from the Claremont Graduate University. She held a faculty position at East Carolina University with 18 years’ experience evaluating community and clinic-based obesity and chronic disease prevention interventions in underserved rural communities.
Moderator: May Wang, Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Speaker submitted biosketch
Dr. May Wang is Professor of Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA. Her research focuses on social disparities in child nutrition and the well-being of immigrant families from a global perspective, and on developing methodology for advancing obesity-related evaluation research. She is currently Principal Investigator of a five-year interdisciplinary study that is pioneering systems science methods to better understand what types of interventions are most effective in addressing child obesity within various social contexts.
Presentations/Handouts
WS 2.1: Childhood Obesity: Disparities, Costs, and Cost-Effective Solutions
The significant health and financial consequences of childhood obesity necessitate identifying groups most in need of interventions, as well as cost-effective solutions to reducing obesity in these youth. This session will present childhood obesity trends and racial/ethnic disparities data in California, the financial costs of childhood obesity, and cost-effectiveness estimates of national and state excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Please Click the Speaker names below to see their submitted biosketch.
Patricia Crawford, Senior Director of Research, Nutrition Policy Institute, UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Speaker submitted biosketch
Pat Crawford, DrPH, RD, is the Senior Director of Research and Cooperative Extension Specialist at the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Prior to her position at NPI, she co-founded and directed the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California at Berkeley for 15 years. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. Dr. Crawford studies ways in which nutrition programs and policies can improve children's dietary intake and reduce obesity. Dr. Crawford served on the California Legislative Task Force on Diabetes and Obesity and is an expert advisor for the Let’s Get Healthy California Task Force. She chaired the Institute of Medicine’s Workshop on Food Insecurity and Obesity and served on the IOM’s Committee on WIC Research, the Committee on Accelerating Progress on Obesity Prevention, and the IOM’s Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention.
Jennifer Falbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California, School of Public Health
Speaker submitted biosketch
Jennifer Falbe is a postdoctoral research fellow at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Her research focuses on identifying modifiable determinants of childhood obesity and developing and testing programmatic, policy, and environmental interventions to prevent excess weight gain. She has led studies examining primary-care interventions to address obesity among disadvantaged youth and evaluation efforts for a multi-site, multi-sector community intervention to reduce childhood obesity. Dr. Falbe is currently leading a study to evaluate the impact of a local ordinance to tax sugar-sweetened beverages.
Michael Long, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Speaker submitted biosketch
Michael Long is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and works at the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center. Dr. Long works at the intersection of obesity epidemiology and quantitative policy analysis, with the goal of identifying policy solutions to the obesity epidemic. He has evaluated a range of nutrition policy issues, including state competitive food policies in schools, the federal WIC package change, and potential cost-effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage excise taxes. He completed his doctorate at Harvard and his MPH from the Yale School of Public Health.
Moderator: John Talarico, Branch Chief, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Branch, California Department of Public Health
Presentations/Handouts
WS 4.1: Cost-Effectiveness of Nutrition and Physical Activity Interventions: What’s the Return on Investment?
As multiple stakeholders contemplate implementing interventions to reduce childhood obesity, it is critical that we understand which interventions provide the greatest return on investment. This session will describe assumptions made in cost-effectiveness research, provide specific examples (including cost-effectiveness of physical education, childcare policies, soda taxes, and a multi-faceted community-based intervention), and discuss challenges to comparing effectiveness of various interventions.
Please Click the Speaker names below to see their submitted biosketch.
Speaker submitted biosketch
Edward Coffield, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Health Professions at Hofstra University. Prior to Hofstra University, Edward was a Prevention Effectiveness Fellow with the School Health Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His primary research consists of evaluating the effectiveness, costs, and benefits of physical activity and nutrition related interventions.
Michael Long, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Speaker submitted biosketch
Michael Long is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and works at the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center. Dr. Long works at the intersection of obesity epidemiology and quantitative policy analysis, with the goal of identifying policy solutions to the obesity epidemic. He has evaluated a range of nutrition policy issues, including state competitive food policies in schools, the federal WIC package change, and potential cost-effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage excise taxes. He completed his doctorate at Harvard and his MPH from the Yale School of Public Health.
Moderator: Kristine Madsen, Associate Professor, Joint Medical Program & Public Health Nutrition, UC Berkeley, School of Public Health
Speaker submitted biosketch
Dr. Kristine Madsen, an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, is a pediatrician and research scientist studying pediatric obesity and health inequalities. With funding from the NIH, the American Heart Association, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she works to identify policies and programs that will improve youths’ nutrition and physical-activity environments. Research topics range from the impact of soda taxes on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption to the use of technology to increase participation in school lunch programs.
Presentations/Handouts
Back to Top