Introduction by Clyde Behney, Deputy Executive Officer, Institute of Medicine

Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up?

INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE

Food and Nutrition Board

Public Briefing

Sept. 13, 2006

Introduction

Clyde Behney

Deputy Executive Officer, Institute of Medicine

On behalf of the Institute of Medicine and the Committee on Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity, I welcome you to the public briefing and release of the report Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up?

In 2004, the Institute of Medicine released the landmark report Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, which provided a blueprint to guide many stakeholders -- including government, industry, media, communities, schools, and families -- in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Last year The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation requested that IOM convene an expert committee to examine the nation’s progress toward that goal.

The report we are releasing today is the final product of a 13-member committee with expertise in nutrition, physical activity, obesity prevention, pediatrics, family medicine, public health, public policy, community development and mobilization, private-sector initiatives, behavioral epidemiology, and program evaluation.

Five committee members are here today to describe the report’s findings and recommendations.

Jeffrey Koplan, the committee chair, is vice president for health affairs at Emory University and a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

Douglas Kamerow is chief scientist, at RTI International, and U.S. editor of the British Medical Journal;

Marshall Kreuter is a professor at the Public Health Institute of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University in Atlanta;

Eduardo Sanchez is the commissioner for the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin; and

Antronette (Toni) Yancey is associate professor and director of the department of health services in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The work of the committee was supported by an outstanding IOM staff that includes study directors Vivica Kraak and Cathy Liverman, research associate Shannon Wisham, and senior program assistant Jon Sanders. This study is a project of the Food and Nutrition Board, directed by Linda Meyers.

IOM is also grateful for the vision and support of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is committed to ensuring that childhood obesity remains a top public health priority in the United States. I also want to extend a special thank you to Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, James Marks, and Kathryn Thomas of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Please welcome Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.