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Speaker and Moderator Biographies

Shari Barkin, M.D., M.S.H.S., received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati Medical College and completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her laboratory studies family-based, community-centered clinical interventions designed to improve health behaviors, such as physical activity and nutrition, in parent–young child dyads. Its work is focused on changing early body mass index trajectories in childhood so as to prevent childhood obesity and later related adult chronic conditions. The interventions developed and tested in the laboratory apply the ecologic model, which considers the child in the context of the family and the family in the context of the community, and how to apply scientific discovery pragmatically in potentially sustainable interventions that can improve the public’s health. A theme of this work is the dynamic interaction among genetics, behavior, and environment at sensitive periods of childhood development. Dr. Barkin serves as principal investigator for the Growing Right Onto Wellness Trial, a 7-year randomized controlled trial focused on prevention of childhood obesity, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She also serves on the steering committee for the Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research National Institutes of Health Consortium. Dr. Barkin is serving her second term on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Children, Youth, and Families and is president-elect of the Society for Pediatric Research.

Leann Birch, Ph.D., is William P. “Bill” Flatt professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition, University of Georgia. In her research as a developmental psychologist, she has focused on individual and contextual factors that influence the developing controls of food intake and obesity risk among infants, children, and adolescents. Early research from her laboratory on factors affecting the developing controls of food intake, including food preferences and responsiveness to portion size and energy density, has contributed to the evidence base on behavioral factors implicated in the development of childhood obesity. These findings laid the groundwork for exploring individual, familial, and contextual factors that shape the development of differences in eating behavior and obesity. Dr. Birch’s current research focuses on primary prevention of obesity in infancy and early childhood. Author of more than 200 publications, she is internationally recognized for her research. She currently serves as co-leader of the University of Georgia Obesity Initiative’s Maternal and Childhood Obesity Team, focusing on obesity as it relates to prenatal, postnatal, infant, and childhood obesity.

Lisa M. Bodnar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., is an associate professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Obstetrics/Gynecology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. and M.P.H. in nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is a licensed nutritionist and registered dietitian. Dr. Bodnar’s research as a nutritional epidemiologist in the field of reproductive health is focused on elucidating the role of maternal nutritional status in maternal and child outcomes. She was a member of the 2009 Institute of Medicine Committee to Reevaluate Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines, as well as the U.K. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynae-cologists working group studying obesity and reproductive health. Dr. Bodnar’s work on the contribution of maternal obesity and gestational weight gain to adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes is funded by the National Institutes of Health. She also is funded to study the role of maternal vitamin D status in preterm birth and preeclampsia. Recently, Dr. Bodnar was the recipient of the Young Professional Achievement Award from the Coalition for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology; she also received a Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award from the University of Pittsburgh.

Jeni Clapp, M.P.A., is director of healthy eating initiatives at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she oversees strategies for preventing and reducing the prevalence of chronic disease among New Yorkers. During her tenure at the department, she has managed the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a national partnership to reduce sodium

in the U.S. food supply, as well as implementation of the New York City Food Standards, which apply to approximately 250 million meals and snacks served annually by city agencies. Ms. Clapp led the Healthy Hospital Food Initiative, which has been recognized nationally as a model for improving the food environment in hospital settings, and oversaw the design of MenuStat.org, an online tool used to track the nutritional content of restaurant foods and beverages nationally. She oversees nutrition education programming provided by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, including Eat Well Play Hard in Early Childcare Settings and the Health Bucks program. Ms. Clapp holds a B.A. degree from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in public administration from New York University.

Kevin W. Concannon was nominated by President Obama and Secretary Vilsack and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2009 to serve as under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services includes the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). Working in partnership with state and local organizations, FNS oversees nutrition programs that collectively serve one in four Americans, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program; child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, and Summer Food Service Programs; the Child and Adult Care Food Program; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and others. CNPP is responsible for developing and promoting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPlate, and a number of dietary and economic reports influencing nutrition policy. Under Secretary Concannon has had a lengthy and distinguished career in public service. He has served as director of state health and human services departments in Iowa, Maine, and Oregon. He also has served in a number of national organizations, including as president of the American Public Welfare Association, president of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, trustee of the American Public Human Services Association, and board member of the American Humane Association. He has received a number of awards, including the Lifetime Human Services Award from the American Public Human Services Association (2007), the Catholic Charities USA Keep the Dream Alive Award (2012), and the National WIC Association Leadership award (2012). He received both B.A. and M.S.W. degrees from Saint Francis Xavier University, which also awarded him a doctor of laws degree honoris causa in 2013.

Kirsten Davison, Ph.D., is an associate professor of nutrition and director of the public health nutrition concentration at the Harvard School of

Public Health. She completed her Ph.D. in child and family development at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on family and community contributions to child obesity. Most recently, her research has focused on family-centered interventions to prevent child obesity in low-income populations. These interventions, which have been implemented in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Head Start settings, are based on the principles of community-based participatory research and were developed, implemented, and evaluated in collaboration with parents. Current projects focus on parenting around children’s snack food intake, strategies to engage fathers in obesity prevention programs and research, and a large-scale community intervention integrating evidence-based programs in multiple sectors (WIC, child care, schools, after-school programs, and community health centers).

William (Bill) Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., is a consultant to the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions of the Academies and director of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center on Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. He was director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1997 to 2012. Prior to his appointment to the CDC, 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. Dr. Dietz has been a counselor and is past president of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, and is past president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. From 2001 to 2003 he served as a member of the Advisory Board to the Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. In 2000, Dr. Dietz received the William G. Anderson Award from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and was recognized for excellence in his work and advocacy by the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the American Dietetic Association and received the Holroyd-Sherry award for his outstanding contributions to the field of children, adolescents, and the media. He received the George Bray Founders Award from the North American Association for the Study of Obesity in 2005, the Nutrition Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for outstanding research related to nutrition of infants and children in 2006, the Oded Bar-Or award from the Obesity Society for excellence in pediatric obesity research in 2008, and a Special Recognition Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics Provisional Section on Obesity and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of

Pediatrics in 2012. Dr. Dietz is the author of more than 200 publications in the scientific literature and the editor of 5 books, including Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children and Nutrition: What Every Parent Needs to Know. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1966 and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. After completing his residency at Upstate Medical Center, he received a Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Dietz is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Allison Gertel-Rosenberg, M.S., has spent her career addressing some of the most important and challenging issues in public health. As director of national prevention and practice for Nemours’ National Office of Policy and Prevention, she is responsible for leading the office’s efforts to spread and scale promising practices and strategic prevention initiatives designed to curb childhood obesity on a national scale, as well as for initiatives that involve the intersection of population health and clinical care. These efforts have included the highly successful Let’s Move! Child Care; Healthy Kids, Healthy Future; and the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative initiative with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ms. Gertel-Rosenberg’s involvement has run the gamut from securing funding for these collaborations, leveraging $47 million in grants, to playing a critical role in planning and implementing the strategic and operational measures necessary to make them successful. She is widely recognized as an expert on public health and population health and has presented at numerous national conferences on the value of investment in childhood health and the efficacy of prevention programs. In addition, she has published a number of articles on children’s health issues. Ms. Gertel-Rosenberg received her M.S. in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health and her B.S. in public health from Rutgers College.

Terry Huang, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.P.H., is a professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health. He chaired the Department of Health Promotion at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) from 2010 to 2014. In addition, he is co-founder and senior advisor of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR), which coordinates activities across the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Before returning to academia, Dr. Huang was director of the Obesity Research Strategic Core at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where he played a leading role in developing new national research directions and funding priorities. He is a global leader in creative solutions for obesity and chronic disease, systems-oriented preven-

tion strategies, cross-sectoral partnerships, and the translation of science to policy. He has lectured extensively and published more than 100 articles on these topics. He has also served as a consultant or expert for the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition; the Access to Nutrition Foundation; and the EPODE International Network, among other notable organizations. For his work with NCCOR, Dr. Huang received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Innovation Award in 2010 and the NIH Director’s Award in 2011. In addition, he received the National Cancer Institute Award of Merit in 2012 and was named UNMC Distinguished Scientist in 2013. He is an alumnus of the American Swiss Foundation Young Leaders Program. Dr. Huang holds a Ph.D. in preventive medicine and an M.P.H. from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in psychology from McGill University. He is board certified in public health and is fellow, immediate past program chair, and councilor of The Obesity Society. He is also vice president of North America, World Obesity Federation.

Lisel Loy, J.D., L.L.M., is director of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center. An attorney with more than 20 years of experience in policy and politics, she helped establish the Bipartisan Policy Center’s first project, the National Commission on Energy Policy, and served as the commission’s deputy director from 2002 to 2006. Prior to that, she served in the Clinton administration, where she was assistant to the president and staff secretary, responsible for overseeing the flow of information to and from the Oval Office. From 1997 to 1999, she was special counsel to the deputy secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, where she worked on Indian treaty rights, water, and endangered species issues. Prior to her government service, Ms. Loy was a staff attorney in the clinical program at the Georgetown University Law Center. At Georgetown, she represented individuals, nonprofit groups, and the Mattaponi Indian tribe in a range of environmental and civil rights claims. She began her career working on nutrition education, community gardens, and land use issues in New York City. She currently serves on the Board of American Rivers, a national, nonprofit river conservation group. She is admitted to the bar in Washington, DC, and New York. She received her B.A. from Yale University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Jennifer MacDougall, M.S., is the healthy living senior program officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. She oversees the foundation’s investments as they relate to achieving the vision of North Carolinians of all ages having access to the key components of healthy living through integrated initiatives that create environments for physi-

cal activity and healthy eating. Previously, Ms. MacDougall worked with North Carolina State University’s Recreation Resources Service, where she assisted municipal and county parks and recreation departments in the development and management of both the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and Land and Water Conservation Fund projects. In addition, she worked collaboratively with parks and recreation agencies across the state to help develop partnerships between parks and recreation and public health agencies for the benefit of community health. Ms. MacDougall received both her B.S. and M.S. degrees in parks, recreation, and tourism management from North Carolina State University.

Brent A. McBride, Ph.D., M.A., is a professor of human development in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he also serves as director of the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) program. As director of the CDL for the past 26 years, he has been actively engaged in working with investigators from a variety of disciplines on the UIUC campus as they explore protocols and approaches for studying young children’s development in the context of classroom environments, as well as in laboratory settings. For the past 8 years, Mr. McBride has drawn on his expertise in child development and emphasis on translational research in early childhood settings in serving as one of the senior investigators on the STRONG Kids I & II projects, an interdisciplinary team of nine investigators from across the UIUC campus that is conducting longitudinal research to explore how genetic, family, community, child care, and cultural factors impact inappropriate weight gain and obesity during the early childhood years. A focus of his work with the STRONG Kids team has been on exploring the role of child care contexts in influencing obesity and inappropriate weight gain during the early childhood years.

Julie A. Mennella, Ph.D., obtained her doctorate from the Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Chicago. She did postdoctoral work on the transfer of volatiles from maternal diet to amniotic fluid and human milk at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She joined the faculty there in 1990, and is now a full member. Her major research interests include investigating the timing of sensitive periods in human flavor learning during breastfeeding and formula feeding; uncovering the different taste worlds of children and adults and children’s vulnerabilities to the current food environment; and understanding the role of genetics, culture, and experience in food choices and habits. In addition to her research, Dr. Mennella founded a program at Monell Center that encourages underrepresented minority high school and undergraduate students to

pursue careers in science and medicine. She has held a number of leadership positions in professional scientific societies and working groups at the National Institutes of Health and other international scientific and health organizations. She is the recipient of grants from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the author or co-author of numerous peer-reviewed research papers; and an internationally recognized speaker on the ontogeny of flavor preferences and its implications for health and nutritional programming.

Cynthia Ogden, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overseeing the analysis group for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Her research interests relate to nutrition, and in particular, growth and obesity. She worked on the revision of the 2000 CDC growth charts for children that are used to define obesity in U.S. children. Dr. Ogden has published extensively and given numerous presentations on obesity and dietary intake in the United States. She joined the CDC as a member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service. Previously, she worked in the Nutrition Division at the New York State Department of Health, where she researched obesity among schoolchildren in New York counties. She also has worked on nutrition-related projects for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and currently is a lecturer at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Dr. Ogden earned her Ph.D. and master’s degrees from Cornell University, where her research focused on social contributions to malnutrition among young children in Kigali, Rwanda.

Ian Paul, M.D., is a professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, chief of the Division of Academic General Pediatrics, and vice chair of clinical affairs in the Department of Pediatrics at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Dr. Paul is a general pediatrician and clinical and health services researcher with principal interests in primary preventive interventions for newborns, infants, and families. His major research focus is on the prevention of childhood obesity through home-based interventions delivered to parents of infants.

Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D., is professor of epidemiology and public health and director of the global health concentration and of the Office of Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health. His research has led to improvements in breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support worldwide through health facility and community-based initiatives, including breastfeeding peer counseling. He has also made major contributions

to the development, implementation, and evaluation of maternal, infant, and young child community nutrition programs globally. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, for which he chaired the Academies’ workshop on “Updating the USDA National Breastfeeding Campaign,” and is currently a member of the WIC Food Packages committee. He served on both the 2010 and 2015 USA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and is currently serving on the USDA/Department of Health and Human Services “Birth to 24/Pregnancy” Dietary Guidelines Technical Expert Consultation Group. He is the recipient of the 2015 (Journal of Human Lactation) Patricia Martens Annual Award for Excellence in Breastfeeding Research. Dr. Pérez-Escamilla obtained his master’s degree in food science and his Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of California, Davis.

Bill Purcell, J.D., is an attorney in Nashville, Tennessee, and an adjunct professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University. While he was serving as mayor of Nashville (1999 to 2007), his accomplishments as a civic leader earned him Public Official of the Year honors in 2006 from Governing Magazine. Elected to five terms in the Tennessee House, he held the positions of majority leader and chair of the Select Committee on Children and Youth. After retiring from the General Assembly, Mr. Purcell founded and became director of the Child and Family Policy Center at the Vanderbilt Institute of Public Policy Studies. From 2008 to 2010, he served as director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He was then appointed special advisor and co-chair of the Work Team for Allston in the Office of the President at Harvard University. He previously served in various capacities for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on obesity-related committees, including as a member of the Committee on an Evidence-based Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision Making, vice chair of the Committee on Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention, and member of the Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention. Mr. Purcell graduated from Hamilton College and Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Jose (Pepe) M. Saavedra, M.D., is a pediatric gastroenterologist, clinical investigator, and educator. He holds appointments in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he developed the Johns Hopkins Children’s Nutrition Center. Dr. Saavedra carried out seminal work in the area of probiotics in pediatric populations, and has an extensive record of publications in nutrition and in the area of intestinal microbiota, immunity, and preventive nutritional strategies. He also is global chief medical officer for Nestlé Nutrition. Over the past several years, he has expanded Nestlé Nutrition’s scientific innova-

tion and enhanced Nestlé’s educational and research activities focused on infant health. Dr. Saavedra has spearheaded a number of creative collaborative initiatives designed to help educate and disseminate nutrition information, including work with the North American and European Societies of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN, ESPGHAN) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This latter collaborative led to the creation of the AAP’s Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight—a special example of the leveraging of common interests, knowledge, and expertise to create shared value for both the collaborators and parents, consumers, and children. Dr. Saavedra is chairman of the board of the Nestlé Nutrition Institute.

Mary T. Story, Ph.D., R.D., is professor of global health and community and family medicine and associate director, education and training, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University. She started in this position in January 2014. Prior to that she was senior associate dean for academic and student affairs and professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health in the School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, where she was also adjunct professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine. Dr. Story’s interests are in the areas of child and adolescent nutrition, obesity prevention, and environmental and policy approaches to improving healthy eating. She is director of the National Program Office for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research program. Her own research focuses on understanding the multiple factors related to eating behaviors of youth and environmental, community, and school-based interventions for obesity prevention and healthy eating. She has produced more than 400 scientific publications in the area of child and adolescent nutrition and obesity. Dr. Story is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. She was previously a member of numerous Academies committees on school food, nutrition, food marketing, and obesity-related topics. She currently serves on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Dr. Story received a Ph.D. in human nutrition science from Florida State University and is credentialed as a registered dietitian. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Elsie M. Taveras, M.D., M.P.H., is a pediatrician and a childhood obesity researcher. The main focus of her research is understanding determinants of obesity in women and children and developing interventions across the life course to prevent obesity, especially in underserved populations. Her work spans the spectrum of observational studies and interventions, with an emphasis on identifying and quantifying risk factors so they can be modified for health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Taveras has published

more than 100 research studies examining early-life origins of obesity and interventions in home, clinical, and community settings to prevent and manage obesity among mothers and children. She is chief of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics and director of pediatric population health management at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is also an associate professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School. She supports the academic activities of faculty of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics as they develop and test innovations in primary care delivery and in the conduct of research that leverages clinical and community partnerships. She also leads the Division in research and teaching on improving the health of individuals and populations across the life course, prevention of chronic diseases among children, and reduction and elimination of disparities in children’s health and health care.

Dianne Ward, Ed.D., has been engaged in research to prevent childhood obesity through home, school, and community interventions that promote healthy eating and regular physical activity in children and families. She led the team that developed the highly regarded policy and environmental intervention for child care, NAP SACC (the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care). The second generation of NAP SACC, called GoNAPSACC, includes an updated self-assessment for centers and family child care homes and an online interactive version of the original program. Dr. Ward is co-directing a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project to test a three-component intervention designed to increase healthy nutrition and regular physical activity in children enrolled in family child care homes (KEYS to a Healthy Family Child Care Home). Her other NIH projects include Caring and Reaching for Health, a worksite intervention for child care workers, and a social marketing intervention linking child care providers to parents (Healthy Me, Healthy We). Dr. Ward is very active in leadership positions among early care and education (ECE) researchers, including the ECE workgroup sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the ECE Special Interest Group of the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

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