Overview
Type: Vanderbilt Initiative Award (ViA)
The initiative aims to develop a tool within the EPIC health platform to capture obesity data, catalyze trans-disciplinary conversations with area experts and improve behavioral interventions for dissemination.
Two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese and almost one in three children are overweight or obese by the time they enter kindergarten. The United States spends approximately $147 billion annually on health issues related to obesity, and its associated chronic disease consequences are the result of complex interactions between individual level factors. The greatest contributor to the burgeoning problem of obesity is related to behavior. Addressing behavioral interventions in the clinic and community setting is paramount to achieve effective prevention and intervention strategies and to improve outcomes. Despite the magnitude of the public health problem resulting from obesity, we lack effective approaches to counteract these trends in order to prevent and treat obesity as well as strategies for disseminating and implementing effective behavioral interventions. Closing these gaps will require innovative, trans-disciplinary approaches to reverse the medical, financial and social consequences of the obesity epidemic.
Faculty Participants
Lead Faculty in bold
School of Medicine (Clinical)
- Shari Barkin, Professor of Pediatrics
- Barron Patterson, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
College of Arts & Science
- David Schlundt, Associate Professor of Psychology
- Alice Randall, Writer in Residence in African American and Diaspora Studies
Peabody College
- Carol Nixon, Research Assistant Professor in Human Development Counseling
Law School
- Jennifer Shinall, Associate Professor of Law
Owen Graduate School of Management
- Kelly Haws, Associate Professor of Management