OPC DIRECTOR
Debra Haire-Joshu PhD is
a Professor and Division Director of Behavioral Science
and Health Education and Director of the Obesity
Prevention Center at the Saint Louis University
School of Public Health. She is a Robert Wood Johnson
Health Policy Fellow and is an advisor on obesity and
chronic disease topics for the Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions Committee of Senator Edward Kennedy. She
is also director of the Washington University Prevention and Control Core of
the Diabetes Research and Training Center. Dr. Haire-Joshu is chair of the Health Policy
Committee of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and holds
appointments to the Missouri Obesity Prevention and Treatment
Council subcommittee on Policy Initiatives.
Dr. Haire-Joshu has a longstanding and active research
program, testing obesity prevention interventions among
underserved populations in early childhood and youth. This
research has been supported by several agencies within
the National Institutes of Health including the National
Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive,
and Kidney Disease, and the National Institute of Nursing
Research as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, and the American Cancer Society. She is
the author of over 200 peer-reviewed papers, several books
and book chapters on chronic disease and obesity prevention
research, practice, and policy.
OPC STAFF
Margaret Albrecht
Liaison, OPC and Parents as Teachers National
Center Partnership
BJ, emphasis in News-Editorial,
University of Missouri-Columbia,
1973
MBA, emphasis in Marketing and Management,
University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1987
Margaret’s interests lie in helping
parents enhance the development and health of their infants
and young children. She is a certified parent educator
and has worked as a Missouri state trainer and curriculum
writer for Parents as Teachers (PAT) National Center
in St. Louis. She currently is writing a nutrition and
fitness curriculum supplement. As liaison, she is helping
to develop and implement an online training program for
the High 5 for Kids Project, developing a curriculum
for the BALANCE intervention plan for postpartum teens,
and designing a curriculum to train PAT parent educators
on cancer prevention.
Deborah Bujnowski, MPH, RD
Research Assistant
BS, Dietetics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dietetic Internship, Loyola University Chicago
MPH, Epidemiology, Tulane University, 2002
Deborah is a doctoral student pursuing a PhD in Public Health Studies with a concentration in Behavioral Science. She joined the OPC in 2006 and works on the BALANCE project, which is designed to promote nutrition and physical activity in postpartum adolescents. Her dissertation research focuses on dietary assessment and heart disease risk in the same population. Deborah has worked previously as a dietitian, research coordinator, and epidemiologist in hypertension research and nutrition and health promotion for underserved populations.
Michael Elliott, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
B.A. Pre-medicine and Psychology, Ohio Wesleyan University,
1992
M.S. Preventive Medicine,
emphasis in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Ohio State University,
1994
Ph.D. Public Health, emphasis in Health Behavior
and Health Promotion, Ohio State University,
2001
Mike joined the OPC in 2002. His job duties include
creating and maintaining datasets to manage the data
collection of OPC projects, and running analyses on data
for papers. In addition to managing data for the
OPC, Mike also manages data for the PRC. His interests
include the use of GIS in data management, the measurement
of physical activity, and the use of the Internet to
collect data. He has published and presented in
the fields of physical activity measurement, data management,
and occupational stress and well-being.
Cindy Schwarz, MPH, MS, RD, LD
Research Coordinator
BS, Southeast Missouri State University, 2000
Dietetic Internship, Saint Louis University, 2001
MPH/MS joint degree in Public Health and Nutrition, Saint Louis University, 2003
Cindy is the Research Coordinator for the BALANCE project at the OPC. She has worked as a research assistant at the OPC and has worked with various community groups. Her interests lie in disease prevention and health promotion.
Rebecca Schermbeck, MPH, MS, RD, LD
Project Coordinator
BS, Coordinated Program in Medical Dietetics, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004
MPH/MS, joint degree in Public Health and Nutrition, Saint Louis University, 2007
Rebecca is the project coordinator for the Prevention and Control Core of the Diabetes Research and Training Center and Mystics in Training. She is also involved multiple aspects of the BALANCE project. She worked at the OPC as a research assistant and her interests focus on preventing childhood obesity specifically through programming and policy.
Ann Wren
Financial Coordinator
Her position is dedicated to the management of the OPC ’s budget, including purchasing, procurement, and maintenance of all project budget accounts.
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