Task Force Welcomes New Members

Task Force members and NIH staff from left to right
First row: Walter Pories, M.D., Susan Yanovski, M.D., Steven Blair, P.E.D., G. Terrence Wilson, Ph.D., Shiriki Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Second row: Leonard Epstein, Ph.D., Rudolph Leibel, M.D., Norma Goodwin, M.D., Thomas Wadden, Ph.D., Jay Hoofnagle, M.D.
Third row: Robert Kuczmarski, Dr.P.H., Van Hubbard, M.D., Ph.D., Barbara Harrison, M.S., Judith Stern, Sc.D.
Not pictured: Charles Billington, M.D., Rena Wing, Ph.D.

Two new members have joined NIDDK’s Task Force on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity. Steven N. Blair, P.E.D., is Director of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications and Director of Research at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. His research focuses on the associations between lifestyle and health, with an emphasis on exercise, physical fitness, body composition, and chronic disease. Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Professor of Epidemiology at the Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Dr. Kumanyika’s research concerns the role of nutritional factors in chronic disease prevention, with a focus on obesity, sodium reduction, and related health problems such as hypertension and diabetes.

Two long-time members are rotating off the task force. Norma J. Goodwin, M.D., founder and president of Health Watch Information and Promotion Services, Inc., has been with the task force since its inception in 1991. Judith S. Stern, Sc.D., director of Food Intake Laboratory Group and professor of Nutrition and Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, has been a member since 1995. s