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Gladys Block, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition
Director, Public Health Nutrition Program
School of Public Health, UCB
Lorrene Ritchie, PhD, RD
Associate Researcher
Center for Weight and Health
Lorrene Davis Ritchie, PhD, RD, is an Associate Researcher at the U.C. Berkeley Center for Weight and Health. Dr. Ritchie obtained her doctorate in Nutrition at U.C. Berkeley and is also a Registered Dietitian.
Research Interests
To identify promising target behaviors for the prevention of obesity and its co-morbidities, Dr. Ritchie has been recently involved in several evidence-based reviews of the scientific literature. She manages a research project to identify and track eating patterns and determine their relation to obesity in a large cohort of Black and White females followed from preadolescence through young adulthood. She also works in the school arena to facilitate the implementation of nutrition programs and
policies to promote health and prevent overweight among school children.
Work at the Center
Dr. Ritchie works at the Center for Weight and Health to help promote the development of interdisciplinary, science-based and culturally relevant solutions to the obesity epidemic in children and adults. She writes grant proposals and research papers, disseminates results of research and literature reviews at professional meetings, and works to develop cooperative relationships with investigators and public health professionals on campus and outside the University setting.
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Dr. Karen Webb
Dr. Webb, PhD, MPH, is co-director of the Centre for Public Health Nutrition and Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, and the School of Molecular and Microbial Bioscienes at the University of Sydney, Australia where she has worked since 1989. She is a 1972 MPH graduate of the UCB School of Public Health (Public Health Nutrition) and she obtained her PhD at the University of Sydney in Social and Preventive Medicine in 1982.
Research Interests
Dr. Webb’s research interests have recently focused on conceptualization and measurement of food environments; epidemiological studies of dietary contributors to obesity and asthma in children; trends in dietary intakes in nutritionally vulnerable groups; interventions for reducing food insecurity, and for promoting breastfeeding. Her 10 year, large intersectoral collaborative nutrition project with a local Government Area in western Sydney, modelled on North American projects including the Toronto Food Policy Council, has won many health service awards for innovation in Australia and has served as a model to other projects.
Work with the Center
While visiting the CWH, Dr. Webb will engage in the Center’s academic program of projects and teaching to: 1) understand and consider the relevance for Australia of the types of obesity-related policy and program interventions occurring in California and elsewhere, and the rationale and process for selecting these interventions; 2) become familiar with approaches to and methods of evaluation research used to document the process, impact and outcomes of comprehensive obesity interventions, particularly those directed at environments; and 3) observe and participate in approaches to teaching and learning in public health nutrition at UC Berkeley, particularly with regard to community nutrition, obesity prevention, evaluation methods, and dietary assessment methods in obesity research.
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Dr. George Bray
Dr. Geroge Bray, MD, is a Boyd Professor and Chief, Division of Clinical Obesity and Metabolism, at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisianne State University System.
Research Interests
Dr. Bray is an internationally recognized researcher whose major research interests have been in obesity and diabetes at both the experimental and clinical level. His grant funding is for the Diabetes Prevention Program, a multi-center NIH funded trial that is studying strategies for reducing the conversion to diabetes of people at high risk for diabetes; for the Look AHEAD multi-center trial, also funded by NIH, asking whether reducing body weight will impact overall health risk in diabetics; and for an experimental study comparing two strains of animals, one which become obese eating a high fat diet, and one which does not.
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Dr. Katherine Flegal
Dr. Katherine Flegal, PhD, MPH., is a Senior Research Scientist and Distinguished Consultant at the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Hyattsville MD. Dr. Flegal works with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) program. She has published widely on the epidemiology of obesity and overweight in the United States.
Research Interests
Dr. Flegal's current research projects include new estimates of the
prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults and children in the US, methodological examination of the issues of estimating deaths attributable to obesity and research related to the use of self-reported height and weight in epidemiologic studies.
Work with the Center
While visiting the Center, Dr. Flegal will help plan and speak at the statewide conference on childhood obesity and give seminars on several topics, including the epidemiology of obesity and deaths attributable to obesity. She will also provide technical assistance on research related tosurveillance and risk factors for obesity in adults and children. Dr. Flegal can be contacted at Kflegal@cdc.gov.
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Dr. Jennifer O'Dea
Dr. Jennifer O'Dea, MPH, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in food technology, nutrition and health education at the University of Sydney. Dr. O'Dea is a qualified dietician/ nutritionist with clinical experience in hospital dietetics and pediatrics. While completing her Masters in Public Health at the University of California, Dr. O'Dea worked on a large longitudinal study of prepubescent girls. She is particularly interested in body image among male and female adolescents and young people.
Research Interests
Dr O'Dea's current research projects include a longitudinal study of self concept, body image, body weight and eating disorder risk factors among teenaged girls, an evaluation of educational programs aimed at reducing risk factors for eating disorders, and a cross-cultural study of the body weight perceptions of young people from Australia and Asia. Dr. O’Dea's research also covers the educational application of research findings about body image, self concept and health and nutritional education.
Work with the Center
While visiting the Center, Dr. O'Dea will helped plan and was keynote speaker for a conference on the prevention of eating disorders, gave a seminar on self-esteem in the development and prevention of childhood overweight and eating disorders and provided technical assistance in research related to nutrition education, self esteem and eating disorders. Dr O'Dea visited until July 2002.
Ting Fei Ho, MD -- Singapore
Dr Ting Fei Ho is a medical doctor and Associate Professor at National University of Singapore. In the Spring of 2001, Dr Ho spent several weeks at the Center to discuss research and potential collaboration in the areas of obesity, weight control, nutrition and children's health.
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