Joan C. Han, MD, is the Founding Director of the new University of Tennessee–Le Bonheur Pediatric Obesity Center and Director of Le Bonheur Healthy Lifestyle Clinic. Dr. Han has also joined the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Memphis, TN) as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology. Previously, Dr. Han worked at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Darell Hammond is the Founder and CEO of the nonprofit, KaBOOM!, an organization that builds playgrounds for children. KaBOOM!, in partnership with the Humana Foundation, announced 212 cities and towns as 2014 Playful City USA honorees. The program honors communities across the United States that are taking steps to ensure that all children, especially those living in poverty, have access to play areas. Major cities, such as Washington, DC, Chicago, and Austin, were recognized as well as smaller cities and towns across the country. KaBOOM! has three major initiatives: building playgrounds; taking action for play; and mapping the state of play.
Jason A. Mendoza, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, recently received a $405,835 grant from the NIH for a pilot study on “bicycle trains.” A bicycle train is a group of children who ride bikes to school with adult chaperones. The study will follow 80 fourth- and fifth-grade students at two Seattle elementary schools. The program is designed to recruit participants, promote participation, and identify barriers to participation. The study will evaluate the effects of the project on the children's overall physical activity as part of Active Commuting to School (ACS). Dr. Mendoza is also Codirector of the Health Disparities Research Center at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Nemours, a nonprofit children's health organization, created a comprehensive toolkit called Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategies for Rural Communities. The toolkit provides strategies and success stories to assist practitioners in child-serving sectors, including early care and education, schools, out-of-school time, community initiatives, and healthcare. The toolkit includes policy recommendations and an overview of the evaluation process. It is available for free download at www.healthycommunitieshealthyfuture.org/resource-nemours-childhood-obesity-toolkit-for-rural-communities
Natalie S. The, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. The is the recipient of a $2.6 million, 4-year grant from the NIH to study diabetes in children and young adults. Dr. The will partner with Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to conduct a longitudinal study in six states. They will study the relationship between nutritional status and diabetes-related complications. Dr. The's research, in general, focuses on the prevention of obesity and diabetes. Dr. Mayer-Davis is the national chairperson of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, a multi-center study funded by the CDC and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Christine Cole Johnson, PhD, MPH, is Chair of Henry Ford Hospital's Department of Public Health Sciences and Director of the new Henry Ford Center for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research in Detroit. This center was created by a 5-year, $5 million grant from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The center is designed to research ways to improve patient interactions in three areas: childhood obesity, asthma, and hysterectomies. A significant component of the center's mission is to provide physicians, advanced practice nurses, and other healthcare providers with ways to identify patient preferences for healthcare interactions. The center will also focus on developing research projects to help patients and healthcare providers understand which prevention strategies and treatments are most appropriate.
Catherine Birken, MD, MSc, is a pediatrician at The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and an Associate Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences, as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Birken's research interests include childhood obesity prevention, complex morbid obesity treatment, and child advocacy. Dr. Birken was recently profiled in Inside Toronto because she is the head of the Toronto Applied Research Group (TARGet) Kids study, which began in 2008 and is following 6000 children aged 0–5 years. Dr. Birken and her staff visit the children at 6, 9, and 12 months of age and follow them every time they visit a doctor's office. The study collects height, weight, waist size, as well as cholesterol levels and iron and vitamin D measurements. Sleep behaviors and screen time are also examined. Dr. Birken also treats children through STOMP (SickKids Team Obesity Management Program) Early Years, a clinical program that operates in collaboration with Toronto Public Health.
Governor John Hickenlooper, of Colorado, recently signed two bills designed to promote healthy eating and active living. The first, House Bill 14-1301, provides $700,000 to fund educational efforts through the Colorado Department of Transportation's Safe Routes to School program, hoping to increase the number of children walking and riding bikes to schools. The second was House Bill 14-1156, which expands school lunch copay elimination for students in grades 3–5. A similar bill had been passed that eliminated the copay for students up to second grade. Both measures are believed to have an impact on rising rates of childhood obesity.
