Co-Principal Investigator: Ross A. Hammond, PhD
The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
Dr. Hammond is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is also Director of the Center on Social Dynamics & Policy. He also holds appointments as an external Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and an adjunct Associate Professor at Harvard School of Public Health. His primary area of expertise is modeling dynamics in social, economic, and public health systems using methods from complexity science. Dr. Hammond’s current research topics include obesity etiology and prevention, food systems, tobacco control, behavioral epidemiology, crime, corruption, health disparities, literacy, and decision-making. His research has been published in major research journals and has been covered in major international news media. Hammond is on the editorial board of several journals including Behavioral Science & Policy and Childhood Obesity, and was an invited member of the expert committee for the recent National Research Council report Framework for Assessing the Effects of the Food System. He was recently appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Advisory Council for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH, and also currently serves as a Public Health Advisor at the National Cancer Institute and in the Office of Behavioral and Social Science at NIH, and as an advisory Special Government Employee at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. He has been a member of four NIH scientific networks using systems science methods: MIDAS (Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study), ENVISION (part of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research), NICH (Network on Inequality, Complexity, and Health), and SCTC (State and Community Tobacco Control). He has been a consultant on systems science to the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine, Tufts University, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the New York City Department of Public Health. He has taught systems science at Harvard, the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, the National Cancer Institute, and the NIH FAES Graduate School.
Co-Principal Investigator: Christina D. Economos, PhD
Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Economos is a Professor and the New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Medical School at Tufts University, and the co-Founder and Director of ChildObesity180, a unique organization that brings together leaders from diverse disciplines to generate urgency, and find solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic. As the principal investigator of large-scale research studies, Dr. Economos’ goal is to inspire behavior, policy, and environmental change to reduce obesity and improve the health of America’s children. At ChildObesity180 she develops, implements, evaluates, and scales high-impact obesity prevention initiatives. She led the Shape Up Somerville study, demonstrating that it is possible to reduce excess weight gain in children through multiple leverage points within an entire community. Dr. Economos’ Live Well study was a preventive intervention developed with active input from community partners to moderate or reduce weight gain among new immigrant women and their children. In partnership with Save the Children, she led the CHANGE study, which was designed to improve physical activity and nutrition behaviors in rural communities. She has authored more than 120 scientific publications.
Dr. Economos is involved in national obesity and public health activities and has served on four Institute of Medicine committees, including the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions and the Committee on an Evidence Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision-Making. In addition, she serves on the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. Dr. Economos received a Bachelor of Science from Boston University, a Master of Science in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Columbia University and a doctorate in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University.
Co-Investigator: Steve Allender, PhD
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
As national director of the federally funded knowledge exchange, evidence and training network supporting obesity prevention collaboration called CO-OPS (Community-based Obesity Prevention Sites), Dr. Allender has built a strong and significant national network of over 1,500 practitioners and researchers in community-based obesity prevention. CO-OPS has published best practice principles for CBIs, debate on childhood obesity monitoring, practitioner-led evidence summaries, and guidance on establishing successful research-practice collaborations.
Co-Investigator: Boyd Swinburn, MD
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Boyd Swinburn is the Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland and Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne. He trained as a specialist endocrinologist and has conducted research in metabolic, clinical and public health aspects of obesity. His major research interests are centered on community and policy actions to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity, and reduce, what he has coined, the ‘obesogenic’ food environment.
He is Co-Chair of the World Obesity/Policy & Prevention (formerly known as IOTF) and was President of the Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) from 2005-7. He has also contributed to over 30 WHO consultations and reports on obesity, authored over 300 publications and given over 400 presentations. Through these efforts he is significantly contributing to national and global efforts to reduce the obesity epidemic.
Co-Investigator: Peter Hovmand, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
As the Founding Director of the Social System Design Lab at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Hovmand leads a team that develops system dynamics models with a specialization in developing community models using participatory group model building methods. The focus of his research is primarily on marginalized communities and involving community members directly in the modeling process, in addition to including local and regional professionals, community organizers and leaders, and researchers. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. His current focus in modeling is on understanding the role of social determinants at the community level and the implications that social determinants have on the implementation and scale-up of behavioral health interventions.
The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
Dr. Hammond is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is also Director of the Center on Social Dynamics & Policy. He also holds appointments as an external Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and an adjunct Associate Professor at Harvard School of Public Health. His primary area of expertise is modeling dynamics in social, economic, and public health systems using methods from complexity science. Dr. Hammond’s current research topics include obesity etiology and prevention, food systems, tobacco control, behavioral epidemiology, crime, corruption, health disparities, literacy, and decision-making. His research has been published in major research journals and has been covered in major international news media. Hammond is on the editorial board of several journals including Behavioral Science & Policy and Childhood Obesity, and was an invited member of the expert committee for the recent National Research Council report Framework for Assessing the Effects of the Food System. He was recently appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Advisory Council for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH, and also currently serves as a Public Health Advisor at the National Cancer Institute and in the Office of Behavioral and Social Science at NIH, and as an advisory Special Government Employee at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. He has been a member of four NIH scientific networks using systems science methods: MIDAS (Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study), ENVISION (part of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research), NICH (Network on Inequality, Complexity, and Health), and SCTC (State and Community Tobacco Control). He has been a consultant on systems science to the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine, Tufts University, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the New York City Department of Public Health. He has taught systems science at Harvard, the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, the National Cancer Institute, and the NIH FAES Graduate School.
Co-Principal Investigator: Christina D. Economos, PhD
Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Economos is a Professor and the New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Medical School at Tufts University, and the co-Founder and Director of ChildObesity180, a unique organization that brings together leaders from diverse disciplines to generate urgency, and find solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic. As the principal investigator of large-scale research studies, Dr. Economos’ goal is to inspire behavior, policy, and environmental change to reduce obesity and improve the health of America’s children. At ChildObesity180 she develops, implements, evaluates, and scales high-impact obesity prevention initiatives. She led the Shape Up Somerville study, demonstrating that it is possible to reduce excess weight gain in children through multiple leverage points within an entire community. Dr. Economos’ Live Well study was a preventive intervention developed with active input from community partners to moderate or reduce weight gain among new immigrant women and their children. In partnership with Save the Children, she led the CHANGE study, which was designed to improve physical activity and nutrition behaviors in rural communities. She has authored more than 120 scientific publications.
Dr. Economos is involved in national obesity and public health activities and has served on four Institute of Medicine committees, including the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions and the Committee on an Evidence Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision-Making. In addition, she serves on the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. Dr. Economos received a Bachelor of Science from Boston University, a Master of Science in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Columbia University and a doctorate in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University.
Co-Investigator: Steve Allender, PhD
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
As national director of the federally funded knowledge exchange, evidence and training network supporting obesity prevention collaboration called CO-OPS (Community-based Obesity Prevention Sites), Dr. Allender has built a strong and significant national network of over 1,500 practitioners and researchers in community-based obesity prevention. CO-OPS has published best practice principles for CBIs, debate on childhood obesity monitoring, practitioner-led evidence summaries, and guidance on establishing successful research-practice collaborations.
Co-Investigator: Boyd Swinburn, MD
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Boyd Swinburn is the Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland and Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne. He trained as a specialist endocrinologist and has conducted research in metabolic, clinical and public health aspects of obesity. His major research interests are centered on community and policy actions to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity, and reduce, what he has coined, the ‘obesogenic’ food environment.
He is Co-Chair of the World Obesity/Policy & Prevention (formerly known as IOTF) and was President of the Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) from 2005-7. He has also contributed to over 30 WHO consultations and reports on obesity, authored over 300 publications and given over 400 presentations. Through these efforts he is significantly contributing to national and global efforts to reduce the obesity epidemic.
Co-Investigator: Peter Hovmand, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
As the Founding Director of the Social System Design Lab at the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Hovmand leads a team that develops system dynamics models with a specialization in developing community models using participatory group model building methods. The focus of his research is primarily on marginalized communities and involving community members directly in the modeling process, in addition to including local and regional professionals, community organizers and leaders, and researchers. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. His current focus in modeling is on understanding the role of social determinants at the community level and the implications that social determinants have on the implementation and scale-up of behavioral health interventions.
