Overweight/Obesity: Weighty Issues for the

MCH Population

Michelle LawlerThis morning’s panel presentations will build on the previous session with Dr. Sanchez, and will provide an overview of the obesity epidemic and, as well as present some innovative approaches to addressing this serious problem. We’ve re-ordered our presentations a little bit to accommodate some of our audio-visual needs, so we’re going to begin with Dr. Jamie Stang. And following Dr. Stang will be Dr. Suzanne Steinberg, and then our last presenter will be Dr. Michael Rich. In the interest of time, I’m going to briefly all three of our presenters and ask that you hold your questions until the end. And then at the end, hopefully, we’ll have a few minutes for questions. Dr. Jamie Stang is currently the Project Director for the Leadership Education and Training program in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Minnesota. She received a Ph. D. in nutrition from the University of Minnesota, where she also, pardon me, where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in nutritional epidemiology. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Dietetics from the University of North Dakota, and a Master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a wide range of experience in nutrition and dietetics. She has numerous awards, and she is the current Chair-elect for the Public Health and Community Nutrition Practice group. In addition, she has numerous publications, and today she’s going to provide us with an overview of the overweight-obesity epidemic from the public health perspective with a focus on individual, interpersonal and population. Dr. Steinberg is currently serving as the Chief of the Maternal and Child Health branch, and the MCH Director of the California Department of Health Services. She received her medical degree from Union University Medical College at Albany in New York and completed her internship and her residency in neuro-psychiatry at the Albany Medical Center Hospital. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, chemistry, and physics from Russell Sage College and has completed Master level studies in Biological Sciences at the State University of New York at Albany. She also holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Golden Gate University. She has completed post-graduate studies and, in addition, she is certified by the American Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Family Practice, the American Board of Preventive Medicine, and the American Board of Quality Assurance Utilization Review. Again, she has a wealth of experience and belongs to numerous medical societies. Sort of interesting, some of her special project include projects related to occupational medicine, correctional medicine, and one I thought was particularly interesting she has an interest in underwater medicine. Today Dr. Steinberg will speak to us on some of California’s efforts, particularly in the schools to address the problems of overweight and obesity. And last, but certainly not least, is Dr. Michael Rich. And Dr. Rich has medical degrees from Harvard Medical School, and also a Master’s of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Harvard Medical School. He has a Bachelor, this is somewhat interesting, he has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Studies from Pomona College in Claremont, California, and he has been able to sort of combine his medical training with his undergraduate work in film studies and do the editing, and has put that together to develop a very innovative program to address, to working with adolescents in addressing problems with overweight and obesity. In the interest of time, I’m going to keep those comments very short, and I’d like just want to begin her introduction and please join me in welcoming Dr. Jamie Stang. Thank you.