Margo Wootan, ScD is the Director of Nutrition Policy at Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).  Dr. Wootan received her B.S. in nutrition from Cornell University and her doctorate in nutrition from Harvard University's School of Public Health. Dr. Wootan co-founded and coordinates the activities of the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA) and the Food Marketing Workgroup. She has coordinated and led efforts to require calorie labeling at fast-food and other chain restaurants, require trans fat labeling on packaged foods, improve school foods, reduce junk-food marketing aimed at children, and expand the nutrition and physical activity program at CDC. Dr. Wootan has received numerous awards and is quoted regularly in the nation's major media.
The first keynote session by Dr. Wootan will explore how restaurant foods, retail food stores, portion sizes, advertising, disinformation campaigns, and defaults often encourage unhealthy eating and eating too much. Dr. Wootan will outline promising policy and environmental approaches that can help to reshape the food system and make healthier choices easier.
Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH is a Professor at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. She is the Director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities and is Co-Principal investigator of Children's HealthWatch, a national research network that investigates the impact of public assistance programs on the health and well-being of young children and their caregivers. Dr. Chilton founded Witnesses to Hunger, a participatory action study to increase women's participation in the national dialogue on hunger and poverty. She is Principal Investigator of the Building Wealth and Heath Network, which is designed to incentivize entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
A panel of national experts will be judging each pitch and audience members will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite pitches and posters. Prizes will be awarded to the winners. A reception will follow. Contact Victoria Worthen (vworthen@upenn.edu) for more information.Â
The UPenn Prevention Research Center Symposium, "Accelerating Policies and Research on Food Access, Diet, and Obesity Prevention" is supported by Impact Seminar grant funds from the University of Pennsylvania Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Cooperative Agreement Number 1 U48DP005053 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the UPenn Prevention Research Center and do not necessarily represent the official views of the University of Pennyslvania or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.