Christina Economos
Dean, Professor, and New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Medical School at Tufts University, and Founding Director of ChildObesity180
Dr. Economos’ research efforts have addressed the interaction among nutrition, exercise, body composition, bone health, and the built environment, toward preventing osteoporosis and obesity, starting in early childhood. As the principal investigator of large-scale research studies, her goal is to inspire behavior, policy, and environmental change to reduce obesity and improve the health of America’s children. She has worked effectively with diverse communities and has crafted, implemented, and evaluated a physical activity and nutrition education curriculum. With ChildObesity180 she develops, implements, evaluates, and scales high-impact obesity prevention initiatives. Dr. Economos 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 is the principal investigator for Catalyzing Communities. Other research interventions Dr. Economos has led include: the BONES (Beat Osteoporosis: Nourish and Exercise Skeletons) Project funded by NICHD; Shape Up Somerville, EAT SMART, PLAY HARD funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); The CHANGE Project with Save the Children; The Balance Project funded by the PepsiCo Foundation; and Assessing and Preventing Obesity in New Immigrants, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has authored over 200 scientific publications and raised over $55 million in research support.
Dr. Economos is involved in national obesity and public health activities and has served on four National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees where she is currently Vice Chair of the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions. She also co-leads the Tufts Institute for Global Obesity Research, which facilitates and supports research partnerships across the world. In addition, she has been featured in numerous media outlets including CNN, NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. 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.
Erin Hennessy
Director of ChildObesity180 and Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Medical School at Tufts University
Dr. Hennessy has focused her career on helping all children eat better, move more and achieve a healthy weight with a particular emphasis on helping those most in need. Her work addresses modifiable risk factors across levels of influence including the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and public policy.
Dr. Hennessy is an action-oriented scientist seeking to generate new knowledge through collaboration with diverse communities that can support policy, system and environmental change at the local, state, and federal levels. She currently leads an active research portfolio including an $8.5 million award to test and evaluate the use of telehealth innovations in delivery of USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and, co-leads a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, in partnership with the New York Road Runners organization, to create and implement a multilevel intervention to support children’s physical literacy at school and home. She is also the PI of several pilot studies focused on nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention in early childhood. Before being appointed to the Faculty at Tufts, Dr. Hennessy was a Senior Behavioral Scientist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health where she led the FLASHE Study (Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating Study), one of the largest national studies to understand cancer preventive health behaviors among parent-child dyads. During her tenure at NIH, Dr. Hennessy received numerous awards for her research and leadership excellence. Dr. Hennessy has significant cross-sector experience ranging from industry to government to academia and uses this perspective to inform her work at ChildObesity180.
Dr. Hennessy earned a PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition and MS in Nutrition Communication from the Friedman School; an MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine; and a BS in Biology and certificate in Community Health from Tufts University.