Appendix C

Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers and Planning Committee Members

Jamy D. Ard, M.D., is professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention and the Department of Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. He is also codirector of the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Weight Management Center, directing medical weight management programs. Dr. Ard’s research interests include clinical management of obesity and strategies to reduce cardiometabolic risk using lifestyle modification. In particular, his work has focused on developing and testing medical strategies for the treatment of obesity in special populations, including African Americans, those with type 2 diabetes, and older adults. Dr. Ard has participated in several major National Institutes of Health–funded multicenter trials, including Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), DASH-Sodium, PREMIER, and the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial. His work has been published in numerous scientific journals, and he has been a featured presenter at several national and international conferences and workshops dealing with obesity; he has served on several expert panels, guideline-development committees, and editorial boards. Prior to joining the faculty at Wake Forest in 2012, Dr. Ard spent 9 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. He received an M.D. and completed internal medicine residency training at the Duke University Medical Center.

Mary T. Bassett, M.D., is director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the FXB professor of the practice of health and human rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She has dedicated her career to advancing

health equity. Prior to joining the FXB Center, Dr. Bassett served as New York City’s Commissioner of Health from 2014 to 2018. She received her M.D. from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and served her medical residency at Harlem Hospital Center. Dr. Bassett also has a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington, where she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

Stephen Bevan, B.Sc., P.G.C.E., is head of human resources research development at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), with responsibility for developing innovative new projects and programs with IES partners and other collaborators. He returned to IES in April 2016 after spending 15 years as director of research and managing director at The Work Foundation. Mr. Bevan has conducted research and consultancy on high-performance work practices, employee reward strategy, performance management, staff engagement and retention, and “good work.” He has led a number of national and international projects focusing on workforce health and the impact of chronic illness on productivity and social inclusion, including a major impact evaluation project for the Joint Work and Health Unit. Mr. Bevan is an adviser to a number of government departments in the United Kingdom, as well as employers and policy makers in Europe, Asia Pacific, Australasia, and North America. He has received a special award from Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks-Europe for his contribution to the field of mental health and employment. He is a reviewer for several academic journals, including The Lancet. Mr. Bevan has appeared in HR Magazine’s list of “Most Influential HR Thinkers” for the past 10 years. He has been an honorary professor at Lancaster University Management School since 2010.

Captain Heidi M. Blanck, Ph.D., M.S., is a U.S. Public Health Service officer and chief of the Obesity Branch in 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). She oversees the CDC’s monitoring of state, territory, and tribal obesity prevalence and key nutrition policies, environments, and behaviors. Staff in the branch conduct surveillance, applied research, guidelines development, and technical assistance for implementation of standards for early care and education and food service venues. Staff also work with partners to accelerate the use of electronic health records for obesity data and increased access of pediatric weight management programs for low-income families. Dr. Blanck has more than 22 years of experience at the CDC and has authored more than 150 papers and reports in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, obesity, and environmental exposures. She is senior advisor to the agency’s Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation

Network of researchers and practitioners and a member of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research, partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Blanck received her master of science from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Emory University, where she serves as adjunct professor.

Sara Bleich, Ph.D., is senior advisor for COVID-19 in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). She is a policy expert and researcher who specializes in diet-related diseases, food insecurity, and racial inequality. She is on leave as a tenured professor of public health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Bleich was also a White House fellow toward the end of the Obama Administration, where she worked at USDA as a senior policy advisor for food, nutrition, and consumer services and with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University.

Jamie Bussel, M.P.H., is a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is deeply committed to discovering, learning, and exploring cutting-edge ideas with the potential to help build a culture of health and ensure that all children and families have what they need to thrive. Ms. Bussel currently leads the Foundation’s efforts to prevent childhood obesity, helping foster multidisciplinary partnerships and systems-level change strategies to transform the health of people and places. A strong believer in the impact of physical, social, and educational environments on health, she hopes that her work will contribute to a healthier future for all children. Ms. Bussel received a B.A. in English literature from the University of Michigan and an M.P.H. in behavioral sciences/health education from Rutgers University School of Public Health.

Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Ph.D., R.D., is distinguished professor of nutrition and director of the Nutritional Sciences Graduate Program at Rutgers University. Her research focuses on elucidating the role of cognitive and environmental factors on nutrition behaviors and health outcomes, and developing recommendations for nutrition communications and health promotion interventions. Currently, Dr. Byrd-Bredbenner is leading the innovative childhood obesity prevention program HomeStyles, which motivates parents to make quick, easy, evidence-based modifications to their home environment and lifestyle practices. Dr. Byrd-Bredbenner has published nearly 200 research articles and theory-driven, behaviorally focused nutrition curricula and intervention materials. She received the Helen Denning Ullrich

Award for Lifetime Excellence in Nutrition Education from the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, and the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award from the American Society for Nutrition. Dr. Byrd-Bredbenner earned her doctoral degree at The Pennsylvania State University.

Carlos J. Crespo, Dr.P.H., M.S., is professor at the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University School of Public Health, and vice provost for undergraduate training in biomedical research at Portland State University. Previously, he worked for the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and as a public health analyst for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His main areas of research include the epidemiology of physical activity in the prevention of chronic diseases and research on minority health issues. Dr. Crespo lists more than 100 publications and has been a contributing author to five textbooks on minority health and sports medicine and more than 20 government reports, including the Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health. He received the 1997 U.S. Secretary of Health Award for Distinguished Service as part of the Salud para su Corazon campaign, and in 2003 became a minority health scholar with the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH. Dr. Crespo is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the editorial board of the journal Cities and Health. He graduated from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, has a master of science in sports health from Texas Tech University, and a doctor of public health in preventive care from Loma Linda University.

Sarah de Guia, J.D., is CEO of ChangeLab Solutions, a national organization that uses the tools of law and policy to advance health equity. Previously, she was executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. Ms. de Guia has successfully accomplished passage of several legislative, budgetary, and administrative efforts to further health equity, including incorporating health equity into land use and planning regulations, expanding language access provisions for limited English proficiency, and improving the quality of health care for communities of color. Currently, she sits on the advisory committee for the Office of Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health, the advisory council of the Healthiest Cities and Counties Challenge, and the board of directors of the CARESTAR Foundation. Ms. de Guia earned her law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

William (Bill) H. Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., is a consultant to the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions and chair of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for

Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University. Previously, 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). Prior to that, he was a professor of pediatrics at the Tufts University School of Medicine and director of clinical nutrition at the Floating Hospital of the New England Medical Center. Dr. Dietz has been a counselor and past president of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, and past president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. He served as a member of the advisory board to the Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Dr. Dietz has earned numerous awards, including 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. He has authored more than 200 publications in the scientific literature and edited five books, including Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children, and Nutrition: What Every Parent Needs to Know. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Dietz received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1966 and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. After the completion of his residency at Upstate Medical Center, he received a Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Joseph E. Donnelly, Ed.D., is professor of medicine in and director of the Division of Physical Activity and Weight Management at the University of Kansas. He is a nationally recognized researcher in weight loss and maintenance. Since 2000, he has received $60 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health for his research to help combat obesity in children and adults, including those with disabilities. Dr. Donnelly received his Ed.D. in exercise physiology from West Virginia University.

Colby D. Duren, J.D., is director of policy and government relations for the Intertribal Agriculture Council. Previously, he was director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) at the University of Arkansas’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Economic Development. He has also served as policy director and staff attorney for IFAI since 2017. Mr. Colby has more than 13 years of experience in federal Indian law and policy, with a specific focus on food, agriculture, nutrition, natural resources, and economic development, including work on three Farm Bills. Prior to joining IFAI, he worked as staff attorney and legislative counsel for the National Congress of American Indians; for the Native American Rights Fund Washington, DC, office; and for Olsson Frank Weeda Law. In 2016, Mr. Colby was nominated by the Native American Bar Association of

Washington, DC, for its Significant Contribution in Indian Law Award for his work on environmental issues in Indian Country. He was also recognized by the Intertribal Agriculture Council membership in December 2018 for his work supporting Tribal governments and Tribal producers in the development of the 2018 Farm Bill. Mr. Colby earned his law degree from the American University Washington College of Law in 2012 and his bachelor of arts from Vassar College in 2006.

Rachel D. Godsil, J.D., is cofounder and codirector of the Perception Institute and a distinguished professor of law and chancellor’s scholar at Rutgers Law School. She collaborates with social scientists on empirical research to identify the efficacy of interventions to address implicit bias, racial anxiety, and stereotype threat, and regularly leads workshops and presentations on these topics and more. Ms. Godsil is on the advisory board for Research, Integration, Strategies, and Evaluation (RISE) for Boys and Men of Color at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education; the Systemic Justice Project at Harvard Law School; and the Poverty and Race Research Action Council. She served as chair of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board, as the convener for the Obama campaign’s Urban and Metropolitan Policy Committee, and as an advisor to the Department of Housing and Urban Development transition team. Ms. Godsil was assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and associate counsel at the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as well as an associate with Berle, Kass & Case and Arnold & Porter in New York City. Additionally, she was Eleanor Bontecou professor of law at Seton Hall University Law School, where she was named Researcher of the Year in Law in 2003–2004. She has also taught at the law schools of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. Ms. Godsil received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Kimberly Gudzune, M.D., M.P.H., F.T.O.S., is medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and of the Healthful Eating, Activity & Weight Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, which offers comprehensive services to support weight loss and manage chronic disease. She is board certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine and was recognized as a Top Weight Management Doctor by Baltimore Magazine in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Dr. Gudzune is also an active researcher, focusing on how obesity influences the health care experience, the efficacy of commercial weight-loss programs, and how features of the built and social environment influence diet and exercise habits among low-income, urban populations. Her research has been featured in The New York Times and on National Public Radio. Dr. Gudzune attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana,

where she received her doctor of medicine and master of public health. She completed her training in internal medicine at the University of Maryland Medical System. After residency, Dr. Gudzune engaged in additional weight management training and completed a clinical research fellowship within the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Peter S. Hovmand, Ph.D., M.S.W., is Pamela B. Davis M.D. Ph.D. Professor of Medicine at the Center for Community Health Integration; professor of general medical sciences in the School of Medicine, professor of biomedical engineering in the Case School of Engineering; and professor of social work (secondary appointment) at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at the Case Western Reserve University. Prior to joining the Center for Community Health Integration, they founded and led the Brown School’s Social System Design Lab at Washington University in St. Louis. Their research focuses on advancing methods for understanding and preventing structural violence with a specific emphasis on advancing knowledge on multilevel feedback systems. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Hovmand’s work has focused on innovations in applying system dynamics group model building and formal modeling with computer simulations to understand the structures underlying gender inequality, structural racism, and social determinants of health more broadly across a variety of outcomes, from pediatric obesity and interpersonal violence to household air pollution and cancer. They authored Community Based System Dynamics, led the creation of Scriptapedia (a knowledge commons of group model building scripts), and cofounded/coled the System Dynamics Society’s Diversity Committee and Structural Racism Special Interest Group, and they currently serve as associate editor for System Dynamics Review. Dr. Hovmand has a degree in electrical engineering and mathematics with an M.S.W. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University in interdisciplinary social sciences in social work and community ecological psychology and cognate in women’s studies/feminist philosophy.

Camara Phyllis Jones, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is senior fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Cardiovascular Research Institute, and adjunct associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine. Her work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. She is past president of the American Public Health Association, a senior fellow at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and an adjunct professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. While at Radcliffe College, Dr. Jones developed tools to inspire, equip, and engage all Americans in a national campaign against racism. For example, her allegories on “race” and racism illuminate topics

that are otherwise difficult for many Americans to understand or discuss. Her toolbox will equip both children and adults to name racism, ask “How is racism operating here?,” and organize and strategize to act. Dr. Jones earned a B.A. in molecular biology from Wellesley College, an M.D. from the Stanford School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She also completed residency training in general preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins and in family medicine at the Residency Program in Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center.

Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., is emeritus professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and research professor in the Department of Community Health & Prevention at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Her interdisciplinary background integrates epidemiology, nutrition, social work, and public health methods and perspectives. The main themes in her research concern prevention and control of obesity and other diet-related risk factors and chronic diseases, with a particular focus on reducing health burdens in Black communities. Dr. Kumanyika is founding chair of the Council on Black Health (formerly the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network [AACORN]), a national network hosted by Drexel that seeks to develop and promote solutions for achieving healthy Black communities. She is past president of the American Public Health Association and has served in numerous advisory roles related to public health research and policy in the United States and abroad. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Kumanyika chaired the Standing Committee on Obesity from 2009 until its retirement in 2013. She currently chairs the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. Dr. Kumanyika received her M.S. in social work from Columbia University, M.P.H. from The Johns Hopkins University, and Ph.D. in human nutrition from Cornell University.

Bruce Y. Lee, M.D., M.B.A., is professor of health policy and management at the City University of New York School of Public Health, where he is executive director of PHICOR (Public Health Informatics, Computational, and Operations Research), which he founded in 2007; he is also professor by courtesy at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He is a systems modeler and a computational and digital health expert, writer, and journalist, assisting a wide range of decision makers in health and public health. Dr. Lee’s previous positions include associate professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, executive director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center, director of operations research at the International Vaccine Access Center, associate professor at

the University of Pittsburgh, senior manager at Quintiles Transnational, researcher at Montgomery Securities, and cofounder of two companies. He has been principal investigator for projects supported by a variety of organizations and agencies, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Global Fund, and USAID. Dr. Lee also has served as a systems science and modeling expert for numerous advisory boards and committees, such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee on evaluating the Dietary Guidelines of America process. He has authored more than 254 scientific publications and three books, and is a senior contributor for Forbes. Dr. Lee received his B.A. from Harvard University, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He completed his internal medicine residency training at the University of California, San Diego.

Ryan K. Masters, Ph.D., is assistant professor of sociology and faculty associate of the Population and Health and Society programs at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. His interests include the examination of long-term trends in U.S. morbidity; chronic diseases; and mortality rates, including the health consequences of the U.S. obesity epidemic, especially as it relates to premature mortality among the U.S. adult population. Dr. Masters has been involved in advancing and testing new methodological approaches to studying period-based factors, such as health-promoting policies and new medical technologies, and cohort-based factors, such as early-life disease exposure, related to adult health. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology and demography from The University of Texas at Austin.

Joseph (Joe) Nadglowski is president and CEO of the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC)—a nonprofit organization formed in 2005 dedicated to elevating and empowering those affected by obesity through education, advocacy, and support. A speaker and author, Mr. Nadglowski is especially passionate about access to treating obesity and tackling weight bias, as well as sharing his own experiences with obesity. He has more than 20 years of experience working in patient advocacy, public policy, and education. Mr. Nadglowski is a graduate of the University of Florida.

J. Alexander Navarro, Ph.D., is assistant director of the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine (CHM). A historian by training, he has taught and conducted research on a wide range of topics, including U.S.–Latin American history, U.S.–Southeast Asian relations, Western labor history, 20th-century urban history, race and racism, and

issues of national identity. Since joining the CHM in 2005, Dr. Navarro has focused much of his research on the historical, social, economic, and political ramifications of the 1918 and 2009 influenza pandemics. He was co–principal investigator and lead researcher on CHM’s landmark study of the use of nonpharmaceutical interventions in the 1918 pandemic and on CHM’s qualitative examination of school closures implemented during the 2009 pA(H1N1) influenza pandemic. Dr. Navarro is also co–editor in chief of The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: A Digital Encyclopedia and was responsible for researching and writing the site’s essays detailing the experiences of 50 American cities during the deadly pandemic. He is currently researching the interplay between territorial aggrandizement and disease during the Mexican War, particularly among American troops, for a forthcoming project. In addition to supervising CHM’s large research projects, Dr. Navarro assists in developing its public programming and managing its daily operations. He received his bachelor of arts in history with honors from Rutgers University and his doctor of philosophy in history from the University of Michigan.

Megan Nechanicky, M.S., R.D., is nutrition manager for General Mills North America Retail, where she provides strategic direction related to health and wellness for business and research and development partners. She also works externally with government, trade associations, and academic institutions to position General Mills positively for future growth. When Ms. Nechanicky first joined General Mills in 2014, she led health influencer communications for some of General Mills’ largest brands, including Cheerios, Fiber One, and Nature Valley. In this role, she delivered cutting-edge science, consumer trends, and new product development and marketing to health influencers, such as dietitians, physicians, nurses, and fitness professionals. Prior to General Mills, Ms. Nechanicky was the first dietitian to work at the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, where she led nutrition- and physical activity–related initiatives and events. She was also responsible for the coordination of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. Ms. Nechanicky served on the federal steering committee to develop the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report, coordinating the communications strategy and report launch in 2013. She is a registered dietitian and holds a bachelor’s degree in food marketing from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a dual master’s degree in exercise physiology and nutrition from San Diego State University.

Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., is professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication and associate dean of faculty development in the newly formed Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at

Cornell University. He is director of Cornell’s Health Communication Research Initiative and codirector of the Cornell Center for Health Equity. Dr. Niederdeppe’s research examines the mechanisms and effects of mass media campaigns, strategic messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior and social policy. He is committed to producing, catalyzing, and disseminating innovative and rigorous research to support efforts to achieve health equity. Dr. Niederdeppe has published more than 175 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medicine journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Town Creek Foundation. He received the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy in 2019, the Early Career Award from the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section of the American Public Health Association in 2016, and the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Scholar in Health Communication Award from the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication in 2014. He serves on the editorial boards for nine journals in communication and public health. Dr. Niederdeppe earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Keith C. Norris, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and codirector of UCLA’s Community Engagement Research Program in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Previously, he served as president of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program and as executive vice president for research and health affairs and interim president at Charles Drew University. Dr. Norris is an American Society of Hypertension specialist in clinical hypertension and is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology. Funded extensively by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Norris has coauthored more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 25 textbook chapters, and more than 350 scientific abstracts; his work is often cited in the area of chronic kidney disease and health disparities. He currently serves as editor-in-chief emeritus of Ethnicity & Disease and on the editorial boards for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Dr. Norris attended Howard University College of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He received his doctorate in religious, spiritual, and metaphysical philosophy from the College of Metaphysical Studies in Clearwater, Florida.

Patrick J. O’Connor, M.D., M.A., M.P.H., is senior clinical investigator and codirector of the Center for Chronic Care Innovation at HealthPartners

Institute. Previously, he worked for 3 years on a Navajo reservation in Arizona, where he researched diabetes and how to improve diabetes care. With colleagues, Dr. O’Connor has developed a number of successful strategies for improving chronic disease care in primary care settings; has coauthored the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards of Diabetes Care for 5 years; has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles; and has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Annals of Family Medicine and Diabetes Care. He has been a consultant to the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and National Institutes of Health (NIH); has been visiting professor at many university medical centers; and has reviewed many grants for NIH, CMS, International Diabetes Federation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, national research institutes in India and Ireland, and other organizations. Dr. O’Connor has led or participated in more than 35 large, NIH-funded grants; he has served on National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute expert committees that designed the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) Trial, for which he also served as coinvestigator. He now leads a new National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases–funded initiative to implement a clinical decision support system for providing patients that have type 2 diabetes and their primary care clinicians with accurate, patient-specific estimates of benefits and risks of lifestyle, pharmacologic, and surgical treatment options related to obesity management. Dr. O’Connor completed clinical training at Duke University and an M.P.H. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Angela M. Odoms-Young, Ph.D., is associate professor and director of the Food and Nutrition Education in Communities Program and the New York State Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. Before transitioning to Cornell in 2021, she taught for 13 years at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition. Dr. Odoms-Young’s research is focused on public health, nutrition, and medicine, exploring the social and structural determinants of dietary behaviors and related health outcomes in low-income and Black and Latinx populations. She has authored more than 200 academic publications, and has served on numerous advisory committees and boards, including committees with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Food and Nutrition Board, as well as the Council on Black Health. Locally, she has been a board member at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, American Heart Association Chicago Metro Board, Grow Greater Englewood, and Blacks in Green. Additionally, she serves currently as chair of the citywide Health Equity Advisory Committee for the American Heart Association Chicago. Dr. Odoms-Young

received her B.S. in foods and nutrition from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and M.S./Ph.D. in community nutrition from Cornell University. She completed a Family Research Consortium postdoctoral fellowship at The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as well as a Community Health Scholars fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Nicolaas (Nico) P. Pronk, Ph.D., M.A., FACSM, FAWHP, is president of the HealthPartners Institute, chief science officer at HealthPartners, Inc., full affiliate professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and visiting scientist in social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He focuses on connecting evidence of effectiveness with the practical application of programs and practices, policies, and systems for measurably improving population health and well-being. His work applies to the workplace, the care delivery setting, and the community, and involves development of new models to improve health and well-being at the research, practice, and policy levels. His research interests include workplace health and safety, obesity, physical activity, and systems approaches to population health and well-being. Dr. Pronk served as cochair of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services’ advisory committee for developing Healthy People 2030, and as a member of the Community Preventive Services Task Force. He is founding and past president of the International Association for Worksite Health Promotion and has served on boards and committees at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the American Heart Association; the Health Enhancement Research Organization; and others. He has published more than 400 articles, books, and book chapters, and is an international speaker on population health and health promotion. Dr. Pronk received his doctorate in exercise physiology at Texas A&M University and completed his postdoctoral studies in behavioral medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., is director of Salud America! and a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she is also founding director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and associate director of cancer prevention and health disparities at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center. She conducts communications research and behavioral interventions for reducing cancer and chronic disease, increasing screening rates and clinical trial accrual, and improving healthy lifestyles among U.S. Latinx. Salud America! The RWJF National Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children is building an evidence base, creating bilingual

multimedia content, developing the field of researchers, and empowering communities to reverse the obesity epidemic among Latinx children. Dr. Ramirez has been recognized with the Making a Difference Award from Latinas Contra Cancer in 2014, as the White House “Champion of Change” in 2011, and by her election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2007. She is a member of the board of directors or the scientific advisory board for Susan G. Komen, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, C-Change, and others. She is a member of the San Antonio Mayor’s Fitness Council, which has overseen implementation of healthy lifestyle programs that have lowered local obesity rates. Dr. Ramirez earned her doctorate and master of public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Somava Saha, M.D., M.S., is executive lead of the Well Being in the Nation (WIN) Network. She and her team led the process of developing the WIN measures in partnership with the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. Dr. Saha has dedicated her career to improving health, well-being, and equity through the development of thriving people, organizations, and communities, and has worked as a primary care internist and pediatrician in the safety net and a global public health practitioner for more than 20 years. Previously, Dr. Saha served as vice president for patient-centered medical home development at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), where she led a whole-system transformation of leadership, care delivery, workforce, and finances that garnered numerous national awards and achieved breakthrough results in health outcomes and costs for a safety net population. She served as codirector of leadership development at the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Center for Primary Care, developing a cadre of change leaders across the system. She continues as faculty at both CHA and HMS. In 2012, Dr. Saha was recognized as one of ten inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leaders for her contributions to improving the health of the nation. She has consulted with leaders from across the world, including Guyana, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Tunisia, Denmark, and Brazil, and in 2016, she was selected as a Leading Causes of Life Global Fellow. Dr. Saha received an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and completed pediatrics residency training at the Harvard Medical School.

David B. Sarwer, Ph.D., is associate dean for research and director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University College of Public Health, where he is also professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. His research is focused on the etiology and treatment of obesity, focusing on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of extreme obesity and bariatric surgery. He is currently leading a study, funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive

and Kidney Diseases and the State of Pennsylvania, investigating the relationship between psychosocial functioning and outcomes of bariatric surgery. Dr. Sarwer also has a wealth of experience in the treatment of obesity with lifestyle modification interventions and pharmacotherapy. His more recent work in this area has focused on the adaptation and delivery of weight-loss treatments in specialized medical settings, including primary care, reproductive endocrinology, and oncology. Dr. Sarwer also maintains an active program of research on the psychological aspects of physical appearance and is currently involved in a project looking at the relationship between traumatic brain injury, impulsivity, and substance misuse in young adult athletes. He is founding editor-in-chief of Obesity Science and Practice, and he serves as associate editor for both Health Psychology and Obesity Surgery, as consulting editor for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and on the editorial boards of several other journals. In 2020, he was coeditor of a special issue of the American Psychologist dedicated to obesity. Dr. Sarwer received his B.A. from Tulane University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Ph.D., M.S., C.P.H., is professor of public health at Montclair State University. Previously, she worked as a nutrition educator at the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey, and as an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health. Dr. Silvera was awarded the National Cancer Institute’s K01 Career Development Award in 2009 to pursue her work on racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes. She has served on the board of the American Public Health Association Cancer Caucus, on the junior member and membership committees of the American Society for Preventive Oncology, and on the academic advisory board of the New Jersey Society for Public Health Education. Dr. Silvera has been called upon by the New York and New Jersey media to serve as an expert by interpreting and explaining the epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds a bachelor of science in biology and a master of science in nutritional sciences from Rutgers University, and a doctorate in epidemiology from the Yale School of Medicine.

Melissa A. Simon, M.D., M.P.H., is George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology and vice chair of research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is also founder and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation and the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative. Dr. Simon is an expert in implementation science, women’s health across the lifespan, minority health, community engagement, and health equity. She has been

recognized with numerous awards for her substantial contribution to excellence in health equity scholarship, women’s health, and mentorship, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Dr. Simon is a former member and current consultant to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the NAM Leadership Consortium’s Culture Inclusion and Equity Collaborative, and the National Academies’ Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity. She received her M.D. from Rush Medical College and her M.P.H. from University of Illinois Chicago.

Hunter Jackson Smith, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.E., is currently the chief of preventive medicine for the U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate—Africa, stationed in Kisumu, Kenya. He also serves as a subject matter expert for the Department of Defense Medical Ethics Center and as adjunct assistant professor for the Uniformed Services University in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics. Dr. Smith is board certified in general preventive medicine and public health. His research interests include obesity, social determinants of health, bioethics, and epidemiology.

Roland J. Thorpe Jr., Ph.D., M.S., is professor in the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH); founding director of the Program of Men’s Health Research in and deputy director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions; and codirector of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research. He also holds joint appointments in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and the Department of Neurology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Thorpe is a social epidemiologist and gerontologist who has published more than 240 peer-reviewed articles that have significantly contributed to the understanding of how race, socioeconomic status, and segregation influence the health and well-being of African Americans. His most recent work focuses on improving the lives of Black men. Dr. Thorpe serves as principal investigator on several National Institute on Aging–funded grants. He participates in several training programs designed to develop underrepresented minorities at many career stages. Dr. Thorpe is a provost fellow in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, where he leads initiatives in the Provost’s Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowship. He is a past recipient of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Award; the inaugural annual 2018 Obesity Health Disparities PRIDE Roland J. Thorpe, Jr. Mentoring Award; the 2020 Minority Issues in Gerontology Outstanding Mentorship Award; and the 2020 JHBSPH Dean’s Award of Distinction in Faculty Mentoring. He is also editor in chief of Ethnicity & Disease. Dr. Thorpe earned a bachelor’s degree

in theoretical mathematics from Florida A&M University, a master’s degree in statistics, and a Ph.D. in clinical epidemiology with a graduate minor in gerontology from Purdue University. He received postdoctoral training in health disparities and gerontology from the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Susan Z. Yanovski, M.D., is codirector of the Office of Obesity Research and senior scientific advisor for clinical obesity research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include behavioral, medical, and surgical approaches for obesity treatment in adults and children and the study of binge eating disorder. Dr. Yanovski has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers and was a member of the expert panel that developed the 2013 Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults for the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and The Obesity Society. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Archives of Family Medicine, and Eating Behaviors. Dr. Yanovski earned her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She completed her residency and fellowship in family medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a postdoctoral fellowship in eating disorders research at the National Institute of Mental Health.

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