Debra Haire-Joshu is an internationally renowned scholar of health behavior who develops population-wide interventions to reduce obesity and prevent diabetes among underserved women and children. She holds a joint appointment in the Washington University School of Medicine, and directs the Center for Obesity Prevention and Policy Research (COPPR) and the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research (WU-CDTR).
COPPR aims to discover and integrate new science into policies designed to prevent obesity. The WU-CDTR, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, supports over 80 investigators across the country conducting studies to eliminate the root causes of obesity and disparities in Type 2 diabetes. Haire-Joshu also serves as a co-director of the Institute for Implementation Science Scholars (IS-2), a mentored training program for investigators interested in applying dissemination and implementation (D&I) methods and strategies to reduce the burden of chronic disease and address health inequities.
Haire-Joshu has served on several National Academy of Medicine (and Institute of Medicine) committees on early-childhood obesity and is a member of the National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed literature, authored an award-winning textbook on diabetes management across the lifespan, and has been an active contributor to health policy at national and state levels.
Three faculty from the Brown School and School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis have received a seven-year $6.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project aimed at improving the health of mothers and children in the St. Louis region.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded $4.3 million to renew the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research.
Moving scientific research results into public health and patient care more quickly could have a significant impact on health equity, finds a new paper from researchers at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Weight gain during pregnancy and postpartum are important causes of long-term weight gain and the development of obesity-related diseases among women. A new study from Washington University in St. Louis finds providing a home-based lifestyle intervention effectively minimizes excess maternal weight gain during pregnancy and through 12-months postpartum in underserved African American women with obesity.
A public health research team at the Brown School has taken one of the most effective diabetes intervention programs and made it more accessible by partnering with an existing home-visit organization dedicated to working with mothers of preschool-aged children.
The Center for Diabetes Translation Research, led by Debra Haire-Joshu, the Joyce Wood Professor at the Brown School, has been awarded $3.7 million to continue five years of funding by the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a National Institutes of Health institute.
