 Shiriki Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.P.H. has an interdisciplinary background and holds advanced degrees in social work, nutrition, and public health. She is a professor of epidemiology (Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Pediatrics), and the associate dean for health promotion and disease prevention at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Kumanyika has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on several randomized multi-center and single-center clinical trials related to diet, obesity, weight control, and cardiovascular disease risk, with a particular focus on African Americans. Her current and recent studies involve the development and evaluation of culturally appropriate interventions to prevent or treat obesity and promote healthy eating and physical activity in African American children and adults, in clinical or community-based settings. She has served on numerous advisory or expert panels related to nutrition and chronic disease research and policy, both nationally and internationally and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kumanyika is the founder of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN). Founded in 2002, AACORN was created to improve the quantity, quality, and effective translation of research to address obesity in African American communities. In particular, AACORN works to stimulate and support greater participation in framing and implementing obesity research by investigators who have both social and cultural grounding in African American life experiences and obesity-related scientific expertise. AACORN is supported by a grant from the RWJF.
|
About