Melissa Laska, PhD, RD
Co-Director, Healthy Weight Research Center
McKnight Distinguished University Professor
Professor, Division of Epidemiology & Community Health
University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Nancy Sherwood, PhD
Co-Director, Healthy Weight Research Center
Associate Dean for Research
Professor, Division of Epidemiology & Community Health
University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Stacey Moe, MPH
Operations Manager

Investigators

Healthy Weight Research Center Affiliated Faculty

At the University of Minnesota, researchers from a wide range of fields (nutrition, epidemiology, public policy, food science, computer science, economics, biostatistics, psychology, medicine, and more) are internationally known for rigorous research in developing and evaluating innovative strategies to promote healthy body weight. Faculty involved in healthy weight research at the U of M (listed by school and department) include:

School of Public Health

Katherine Hendel, PhD, MS, RD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Ellen W. Demerath, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Simone French, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Sarah Gollust, PhD—Health Policy & Management
Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD, MPH—Epidemiology & Community Health
Robert Jeffery, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Abigail Johnson, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Melissa N. Laska, PhD, RD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Jennifer A. Linde, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Susan M. Mason, PhD, MPH—Epidemiology & Community Health
Toben F. Nelson, ScD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH—Epidemiology & Community Health
Theresa L. Osypuk, SD, SM—Epidemiology & Community Health
Mark A. Pereira, PhD, MPH—Epidemiology & Community Health
Nancy E. Sherwood, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Rachel Widome, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health
Julian Wolfson, PhD—Biostatistics
Ivan Wu, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health

School of Nursing

Jayne A. Fulkerson, PhD
Mary Hearst, PhD
Melissa Horning, PhD, RN, PHN
Jiwoo Lee, PhD, RN

Humphrey School of Public Affairs

Yingling Fan, PhD
Angela Fertig, PhD

School of Kinesiology

Donald Dengel, PhD—Exercise Physiology
Beth Lewis, PhD—Behavioral Aspects of Physical Activity

Medical School

Emilyn U. Alejandro, PhD—Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
Megan Bensignor, MD, MSHP—Department of Pediatrics
Carolyn Bramante, MD, MPH—General Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
Lisa Chow, MD—Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism
Neer Dutta, DO—Division of General Internal Medicine
Claudia Fox, MD—Department of Pediatrics
Aaron Kelly, PhD—Department of Pediatrics
Catherine Kotz, PhD—Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology
Alicia Kunin-Batson, PhD—Department of Pediatrics
Carol Peterson, PhD—Department of Psychiatry
Emily M. Pisetsky, PhD, LP, PMH-C – Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Steven Stovitz, MD, MS—Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

College of Education and Human Development

Gail Ferguson, PhD—Institute of Child Development
Avelina Rivero, PhD—Family Social Science

College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences

Mindy Kurzer, PhD—Department of Food Science and Nutrition
Hikaru Hanawa Peterson, PhD—Department of Applied Economics
Marla M. Reicks, PhD—Department of Food Science and Nutrition

College of Liberal Arts

Traci L. Mann, PhD—Department of Psychology
Alexander J. Rothman, PhD—Department of Psychology

Veteran’s Administration Medical Center

Shalamar D. Sibley, MD, MPH

Mayo Clinic 

Ryan Demmer, PhD—Epidemiology & Community Health

If you are a healthy weight researcher at the University of Minnesota and would like to be added as an affiliated faculty, please contact the U of M HWRC at hwrc@umn.edu.