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Speaker Biographical Sketches
Thomas N. Robinson, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair, workshop planning committee), is Irving Schulman, M.D. endowed professor in child health and professor of pediatrics and of medicine in the Division of General Pediatrics and Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Robinson received both his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Stanford University and his M.P.H. in maternal and child health from the University of California, 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 solution-oriented research has focused on experimental studies of environmental, community-, school-, and family-based health behavior change interventions related to nutrition, physical activity, media use, and smoking behaviors in children and adolescents, as well as childhood obesity prevention and treatment. Dr. Robinson was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation generalist physician faculty scholar awardee. He is board-certified in pediatrics and 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 and Stanford University. He also teaches in the Program in Human Biology at Stanford. Dr. Robinson served as a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth and the IOM Committee on Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity.
Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H. (member, workshop planning committee), is professor of epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Pediatrics (Gastroenterology, Nutrition Section) and associate dean for health promotion and disease prevention at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Kumanyika’s interdisciplinary background integrates epidemiology, nutrition, prevention, minority health, and women’s health issues across the life course. The main themes of her 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 has a particular interest in the epidemiology and management of obesity among African Americans. Dr. Kumanyika has served on numerous national and international advisory committees and expert panels related to nutrition and obesity, including as vice chair of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Healthy People 2020. She is co-chair of the International Obesity Task Force and serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. Dr. Kumanyika has served as a member of the IOM Food and Nutrition Board, chair of the IOM Committee on an Evidence Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision Making, and a member of the IOM Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth. She is currently a member of the IOM Standing Committee on Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention and chair of the IOM Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention. She received a B.A. from Syracuse University, an M.S.W. from Columbia University, a Ph.D. in human nutrition from Cornell University, and an M.P.H. from The Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the IOM.
Joseph W. Thompson, M.D., M.P.H. (member, workshop planning committee), is surgeon general of the State of Arkansas, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, and professor in the Colleges of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Thompson has led efforts in planning and implementing health care financing reform and tobacco- and obesity-related health promotion and disease prevention programs in Arkansas, including documenting the state’s success in halting the progress of the childhood obesity epidemic. He helped implement ARHealthNet, Arkansas’ health insurance waiver for low-income workers. He served as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Luther Terry fellow in preventive medicine in the office of the assistant secretary for health in HHS, and assistant vice president and director of research at the National Committee for Quality Assurance in Washington,
DC. In 1997, he served as the first child and adolescent health scholar of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (then the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) before returning to Arkansas. Dr. Thompson earned his M.D. from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and his M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the IOM Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention.
Antronette (Toni) Yancey, M.D., M.P.H. (member, workshop planning committee), is professor of health services and co-director, Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Health Disparities at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health. She also directs her department’s doctorate in public health program. Dr. Yancey’s primary research interests are in intervention for chronic disease prevention and adolescent health promotion, with an emphasis on ethnic minority communities. She returned to academia full-time after 5 years (1996-2001) in public health practice as director of public health for the city of Richmond, Virginia, and as director of chronic disease prevention and health promotion, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Dr. Yancey serves on HHS’s Physical Activity Guidelines Committee, the scientific advisory committee for the American Heart Association, the IOM Health Literacy Roundtable, and ad hoc peer review committees for the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute. She served on the IOM Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments. She chairs the board of directors of the California-based Public Health Institute, and formerly served on the boards of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health. Her book Instant Recess: How to Build a Fit Nation 10 Minutes at a Time was released in November 2010. Dr. Yancey received her M.D. degree from Duke University School of Medicine and completed her preventive medicine residency and M.P.H. at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Linda Balfour is brand marketing manager and recess revolutionary for KEEN, Inc., a manufacturer of hybrid footwear, bags, and socks. Ms. Balfour has played a key role in launching KEEN’s Recess is Back, an initiative to re-energize adults around the world through daily play breaks. She has been part of the KEEN team for 6 years of the brand’s 8-year history. She contributed to the development and planning of the KEEN STAND and Hybrid.Pedal programs, designed to inspire conservation and engagement in the outdoors. Prior to her role as brand manager, Ms. Balfour managed the KEEN Hybrid.Care giving program. She currently serves on the board of the Conservation Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting wild places for their conservation and recreational value.
Rear Admiral (Ret.) James Arden Barnett, Jr. serves on the executive advisory council of Mission Readiness: Military Leaders for Kids, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of more than 250 senior retired military leaders founded in 2008 to ensure continued American security and prosperity into the 21st century by calling for smart investments in the upcoming generation of American children. Admiral Barnett served 32 years in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve, retiring in 2008. He was also a senior research fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a policy think tank focused on science and technology issues of importance to the nation, including cyber conflict and cyber security. He served at the University of Mississippi as assistant professor of naval science, and was a senior partner at Mitchell, McNutt, and Sams, P.A. in Tupelo, Mississippi, a governmental law practice representing municipalities, counties, law enforcement agencies, schools, and local government officials. Admiral Barnett received his J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School.
Edward M. Cooney became the Congressional Hunger Center’s (CHC’s) executive director in February 2001. He advises Congress, the administration, and other interested parties on nutrition programs and policies. CHC also operates two leadership development programs: the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program. Before joining CHC, Mr. Cooney was an anti-hunger advocate at the Food Research and Action Center and Connecticut Legal Services. From September 1997 to January 2001, he held two senior positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—as deputy administrator for special nutrition programs and special assistant for nutrition to USDA Secretary Dan Glickman. He received his J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School.
James Corless is director of Transportation for America, a coalition of more than 400 organizations working to promote a new national transportation policy that is smarter, safer, and cleaner and provides more choice. Prior to joining Transportation for America, Mr. Corless was a senior planner for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he managed the agency’s efforts to promote smarter growth, transit-oriented development, and mobility options for low-income communities. Mr. Corless was the author of California’s groundbreaking Safe Routes to School law and legislation that paved the way for smart growth “blueprints” to become part of the regional transportation planning process throughout the state.
William H. Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., is director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in the National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Previously, he was a professor of pediatrics at the Tufts University School of Medicine and director of clinical nutrition at the Floating Hospital of New England Medical Center Hospitals. In addition to his academic responsibilities in Boston, Dr. Dietz was a principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)/Harvard Division of Health Science and Technology; associate director of the Clinical Research Center at MIT; and director of the Boston Obesity/Nutrition Research Center, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). He has been a counselor for the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and is past president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. In 1995 he received the John Stalker Award from the American School Food Service Association for his efforts to improve school lunches. Dr. Dietz served on the 1995 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, is a past member of the NIDDK Task Force on Obesity, and is former president of the then American Society for Clinical Nutrition. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from MIT. Dr. Dietz is a member of the IOM.
Sergeant Michael Dillhyon is executive director of the National Police Athletics/Activities Leagues, Inc. (PAL), a youth crime and violence prevention program that uses educational, athletic, and recreational activities to create trust and understanding between police officers and youth. He became executive director in 2006. Sergeant Dillhyon was previously employed by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in St. Augustine, Florida. While there, he established the St. Johns County Police Athletic League in 1991, with 40 youth participants. St. Johns PAL currently serves more than 2,000 youth per year. The majority of Sergeant Dillhyon’s law enforcement career has involved youth programs. He has served as a school resource deputy in elementary, middle, and high schools; community policing deputy; PAL deputy; truancy deputy; and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer, as well as in other community-based positions.
David J. Erickson, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Community Development Investments at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and edits the Federal Reserve journal Community Development Investment Review. His research in the Community Development Department of the Federal Reserve encompasses community development finance, affordable housing, economic development, and institutional changes that benefit low-income communities. Dr. Erickson served as editor of a joint research project with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program studying areas of concentrated poverty in the United States. He was also editor of a collection of research
papers and essays on the Community Reinvestment Act, which was recently translated into Chinese by the People’s Bank of China. Dr. Erickson received a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on economic history and public policy. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at Berkeley and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College. His book on the history of community development, The Housing Policy Revolution: Networks and Neighborhoods, was published in 2009.
Diane T. Finegood, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Biomedical Physiology & Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Dr. Finegood leads the Chronic Disease Systems Modeling Lab (CDSM) and serves as executive director of the CAPTURE Project (Canadian Platform To increase Usage of Real-world Evidence) (www.thecaptureproject.ca). Since November 2008, she has convened the Building Trust Initiative in an effort to build authentic trust among sectors addressing obesity and chronic disease prevention (http://buildingtrustinitiative.wordpress.com/).
Robert García, J.D., is an attorney who engages, educates, and empowers communities to achieve equal access to public resources. He is founding director and counsel of The City Project, a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization based in Los Angeles, California. As reported in the New York Times (November 12, 2007), “The City Project [is] working to broaden access to parks and open space for inner city children, and … to fight childhood obesity by guaranteeing that … students get enough physical education.” Mr. García has extensive experience in public policy and legal advocacy, mediation, and litigation involving complex social justice, civil rights, human health, environmental, education, and criminal justice matters. He has influenced the investment of more than $20 billion in underserved communities, working at the intersection of social justice, sustainable regional planning, and smart growth. Hispanic Business Magazine recognized him as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the United States in 2008. Mr. García received the President’s Award from the American Public Health Association in 2010. He was called a “civil rights giant” by Stanford Law School and “an inspiration” by Stanford Magazine. He graduated from Stanford University and Stanford Law School, where he served on the board of editors of the Stanford Law Review.
Michael Greger, M.D., is director of public health and animal agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. A physician, author, and founding member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, he is an internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public
health issues. He has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, the International Bird Flu Summit, and the National Institutes of Health; testified before Congress; and was invited as an expert witness in the defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous “meat defamation” trial. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. Hundreds of his nutrition videos are available free of charge at NutritionFacts.org.
Captain Chuck Higgins, M.S., is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and is assigned to the National Park Service, where he is director of the Office of Public Health. Captain Higgins has 33 years of experience in public health at the local, state, and federal levels. Previous assignments were with CDC; the Food and Drug Administration; and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, where he assisted the governor in modernizing the state’s food safety system, culminating in the passage of the Wyoming Food Safety Act of 2000. In his current position, Captain Higgins manages a national program responsible for the health and well-being of almost 300 million visitors a year to the 395 units of the national park system.
Doug Imig, Ph.D., is professor of political science at the University of Memphis and director of the Center for Urban Child Policy at the Urban Child Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. His research and writing concern mobilization of social movements for marginalized and silent groups, particularly children. He is the author of Poverty and Power, and co-author and co-editor of Contentious Europeans. Dr. Imig received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and a B.A. in social science from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland.
Susan Linn, Ed.D., is director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), which she co-founded. CCFC is the only national organization devoted solely to helping parents raise healthy children by limiting commercial influence on children. A psychologist, Dr. Linn is an expert on the impact of media and marketing on children. Her books Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood and The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World have been praised in publications as diverse as the Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, the Weekly Standard, and the Boston Globe. Dr. Linn is an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a research associate at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her work has been featured on such national media programs as 60 Minutes, Now with Bill Moyers, Today, Good Morning America, and World News Tonight, as well as in the film The Corporation. In 2006, Dr. Linn was
awarded a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association for her work on behalf of children.
Mike Metallo is president and CEO of the National Gardening Association (NGA) and has worked in and served the educational nonprofit community for more than 25 years. He has served as executive director/president/ CEO for both trade and educational mission-driven organizations, including the National Gallery of Art, the Parks & History Association, and the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association. NGA is an authority and resource for gardeners of all ages. Its initiatives for children are designed to enhance environmental awareness, augment classroom studies with experiential learning, facilitate cultural exchange, encourage children to make healthful food choices, and impart a love of nature. In addition, Mr. Metallo serves on the advisory panel of the National Forum on Children and Nature, the USDA People’s Garden Forum, the Learning for Life Skilled Trades Committee, and the advisory board of the Housekeeping Channel. He has served as an advisor to institutions such as the White House First Lady’s office, USDA, and CDC, and has provided his expertise to magazines, newspapers, television reporters, and for-profit and nonprofit organizations on the subject of adult and youth gardening and nonprofit management. Mr. Metallo graduated from Gordon College.
Kathy Mulvey joined the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) as policy director in November 2010. CFSC is a national, nonprofit coalition of diverse people and organizations working from the local to the international level to build community food security. CFSC is dedicated to catalyzing food systems that are healthy, sustainable, just, and democratic by building community voice and capacity for change. Prior to joining CFSC, Ms. Mulvey served for more than two decades on the staff of Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact), guiding dramatic growth in programs, budget, and staffing during her 11-year tenure as executive director. She led the organization’s work in the United Nations system, much of it focused on the World Health Organization (WHO). Under her leadership, Corporate Accountability International’s campaign challenging big tobacco contributed to the adoption of WHO’s groundbreaking global tobacco treaty. Ms. Mulvey also lobbied in support of a WHO initiative promoting healthy diets and sustainable food security.
Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., is a scientist with Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining EWG, she worked in Los Angeles, San Diego, and St. Louis, publishing 30 peer-reviewed papers in immunology and biochemistry. At EWG, Dr. Naidenko focuses on the human health effects
of chemical pollution, the intersection of science and policy, and the environmental effects of agriculture and food production. She received a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles, Molecular Biology Institute.
Miriam A. Rollin, J.D., national director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, has been with that organization for more than 10 years. She also serves as vice president/chief operating officer of Fight Crime’s parent organization, Council for a Strong America (CSA), and oversees the work of the CSA Federal Policy, Research, Communications, and States teams, as well as the Human Resources and Finance/Administration teams. Fight Crime’s three sibling organizations, under the CSA umbrella, are Mission: Readiness (retired admirals and generals), America’s Edge (business leaders), and Shepherding the Next Generation (moderate faith leaders). Ms. Rollin has been involved in policy issues affecting children, youth, and families for more than three decades. She is also a lawyer, and has practiced both as an attorney/guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children and as an assistant district attorney, prosecuting juvenile, family violence, and child abuse cases. She received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a J.D. from Catholic University of America.
Andrea B. Thomas, M.B.A., is senior vice president of sustainability for Walmart. She is responsible for working across the global organization as well as with external stakeholders to embed sustainability in all aspects of the company. Prior to assuming this role in September 2010, she led Walmart’s global merchandising centers for the home, hardlines, and entertainment businesses, and previous to that was senior vice president of private brands for the grocery and consumable businesses. Before joining Walmart in October 2007, Ms. Thomas was vice president, global innovation for the Hershey Company. In this role, she led work that identified new platform opportunities for growth based on consumer and marketplace trends and insights, translating them into sustainable product and partnership ideas that delivered profitable growth for the company. Previously, Ms. Thomas spent 13 years at Pepsico, where she worked in brand management, innovation, and retail marketing and promotions. Prior to that, she served as vice president, retail marketing and promotions at Frito-Lay and led the marketing efforts for the Fritos and Tostitos brands. Ms. Thomas earned an M.B.A. from Brigham Young University. She was named one of the Top 25 Global Champions of Innovation by Businessweek magazine in 2006.
