The Texas Obesity Research Center 2010 Conference

Thursday, November 18, 2010

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Registration

3:00 PM – 3:25 PM

Opening Ceremony

Welcome from TORC Director
Rebecca E. Lee, PhD.  Associate Professor of Nutrition, Department Health and Human Performance, Director, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston

Welcome Remarks

UH Health Initiatives: Education, Research and Community Engagement
Kathryn Peek, PhD.  Assistant Vice President, University Health Initiatives, University of Houston

3:25 PM – 3:45 PM

Presentation of Awards

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM

Keynote Speaker

The Future of Childhood Obesity Research
Michael I. Goran, PhD. Director, Childhood Obesity Research Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Poster Session and Director’s Reception (hors d'oeuvres and no host beer/wine)

Friday, November 19, 2010

8:30 AM – 9:00  AM

Breakfast (Hot Breakfast)

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Panel 1: Clinical and Translational Research

• Janet Buckworth, PhD. Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University

• Romi Ghose, PhD.  Assistant Professor, Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston

• Lovell Jones, PhD.  Director, Center for Research on Minority Health, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

• Leigh Leasure, PhD.  Director, Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Associate Professor,Department of Psychology, University of Houston

• Evangelina Villagomez,  Ph.D. Research Scientist, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute-Center for Diabetes Research Division of Medicine

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM

Coffee break

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Panel 2: Community Based Research

• Baker Harrell, MEd. Founder & CEO, Active Life Movement

• Deanna M. Hoelscher, PhD. Professor of Health Promotion, University of Texas School of Public Health

• Lucie Levesque, PhD.  Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University

• Lorna McNeill, PhD.  Assistant Professor, Department of Health Disparities Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

• Jason A. Mendoza, MD, MPH.  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine

12:15 PM – 12:30 PM

Special Interactive Demonstration

• Nightclub Cardio

Jennifer Brugh-Tanguy, President and Founder, Nightclub Cardio

12:30 PM – 1:15 PM

Lunch (Boxed Lunch)

• Salud Familia: Latino Children’s Wellness Program
  Nicolás Kanellos, PhD. Professor of Hispanic Literature, Department of Hispanic Studies, University of Houston

• Fit, Fabulous, & Free
  Cherita Andrews, BA. Founder of Fit, Fabulous & Free

1:15  PM – 2:15 PM

Debate and Discussion:  Obesity and Health Care Reform

• Carol Alvarado, MBA.  Texas State Representative, District 145

• Charles Begley, PhD. Professor of Management and Policy Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

•  Henry Brown, PhD.  Associate Professor of Health Economics, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living Institute for Health Policy

• John Lunstroth, PhD. Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center

2:15 PM – 2:45 PM

Closing Ceremony

• Closing Remarks and Prizes Rebecca E. Lee, PhD.  Associate Professor, Department Health and Human Performance, Director, Texas Obesity Research Center, University of Houston

• Special Performance by Strictly Street Salsa and Friends, Raul Orlando Edwards and Kellie Simon

TORC Conference concludes
Science & Community Open Forum Symposium begins

Michael I. Goran, PhD. Dr. Goran holds appointments as Professor in the Departments of Preventive Medicine, Physiology & Biophysics and Pediatrics in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He is the founding Director of the USC Childhood Obesity Research Center and holds the Dr Robert C and Veronica Atkins Endowed Chair in Childhood Obesity and Diabetes. Dr. Goran is Director of the USC Center for Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (USC C-TREC). Dr. Goran received his PhD from the University of Manchester, UK prior to his postdoctoral training in the US. Dr. Goran has published almost 200 professional peer-reviewed articles. He is currently heading a USC initiative on obesity to bring together faculty from across all disciplines and campuses including Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

Janet Buckworth, PhD. Dr. Buckworth is an Associate Professor of Sport & Exercise Education, Humanities, Management, & Science at The Ohio State University. She conducts research on exercise adherence and the psychobiology of exercise and mental health. She is the co-author of Exercise Psychology in 2002 with Dr. R.K. Dishman. Some current projects include exercise and depression, increasing adherence to walking in women, and the relationship between motivation, self-efficacy, and exercise. She is currently a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance as we all several other professional affiliations. Dr. Buckworth is a journal reviewer for multiple journals and serves on various boards and committees.

Romi Ghose, PhD. Dr. Ghose is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Houston in the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Texas Medical Center. She is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. She has received multiple National Merit Scholarships from the Government of India as well a Travel Award for the AASLD Single Topic Conference Receptor Regulation of Hepatobiliary function in Virginia. Dr. Ghose’s research interests are the regulation of drug metabolism and toxicity.

Lovell Jones, PhD. Dr. Jones is the founding co-chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the nation's largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited "Minorities & Cancer," one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is the founding chair of "Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer," the nation's largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. Dr. Jones also has spearheaded regional hearings on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society. In 2002, Dr. Jones, along with Dr. Armin Weinberg, the other cofounder of the Intercultural Cancer Council, received the Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Society. Research interest include: the relationship between hormones, diet and endocrine-responsive tumors; and how natural and environmental estrogenic agents may initiate cancers in hormonally responsive tissue.

Leigh Leasure, PhD Dr. Leasure is the Director of Behavioral Neuroscience Lap and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Biology & Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology Division at the University of Houston. Her research focuses on neuroplasticity, or the capacity of the adult brain to change in response to behavior and experience, neuroplastic events after stroke, post-stroke exercise and rehabilitation, and hippocampal neurogenesis. Her lab concentrates primarily on three aspects of neuroplasticity: reactive events that occur after injury, the aged brain’s decreased capacity for change, and the generation of new neurons in the adult brain. She is a member several professional organization such as the Society of Toxicology and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. Dr. Leasure is the co-author of Issues in Translating Stroke Recovery Research from Animals to Humans published in 2009.

Baker Harrell, Med. Baker Harrell’s background and expertise in new media, social movement theory and lifestyle marketing drive the initiatives of the not-for-profit organization, the ACTIVE Life (AL). Prior to founding the organization, Harrell completed a Master’s in Health Education with a specialization in childhood obesity.  Harrell’s philosophy of empowering people to initiate social change is demonstrated throughout AL’s efforts and supported by Harrell’s interdisciplinary work as a Ph.D. candidate specializing in the intersection of social movements, health marketing and new media. ACTIVE Life’s (AL) mission is to make healthy the norm by generating a persistent demand for healthy living among all sectors of society.  

Deanna M. Hoelscher, PhD. Dr. Hoelscher is a Professor of Health Promotion at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus. She is the Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living. Her research interests include child and adolescent nutrition, school-based health promotion programs, dietary and physical activity assessment methodology, epidemiology of child overweight, and dissemination of school health programs, as well as the role of diet in chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Dr. Hoelscher is currently the Secretary of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA), and chair of the Program Planning Advisory Committee for the 2007 annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association.

Lucie Levesque PhD. Dr. Lévesque an Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University. Her intervention and research setting is the community. Her research approach is participatory. Over the past 12 years, she has mainly focused on physical activity intervention effectiveness evaluation from an ecological and holistic perspective. She is especially interested in enhancing the accessibility of physical activity opportunities for youth and has a keen interest in working with Indigenous communities to eliminate health disparities related to physical inactivity. Although most of her federally-funded research is in Canada, she has also collaborates with researchers in Mexico and has had the opportunity to train Mexican students and researchers interested in physical activity promotion and obesity prevention.

Lorna McNeill, PhD. Dr. McNeill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. From 2005-2009 she received a competitive Scholar award from the National Center on Minority and Health Disparities, a NIH loan repayment program for Health Disparities Research. She is a member of the American Public Health Association, the American Society of Preventive Oncology, Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the American College of Sports Medicine. From 2007-2009, Dr. McNeill was a member of the Psychological, Behavioral, and Health Services Research Committee (PBHSRC).

Jason A. Mendoza, MD, MPH Dr. Mendoza is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His research areas include obesity and cancer prevention in children with a focus on minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. He has received several awards including the National Institutes of Health Pediatrics Loan Repayment program.  He is a consultant for the Safe Routes to School Evaluation Project, the Working American Indian Physicians to Reduce Childhood Obesity in their Communities, and Statewide Evaluation of Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies in Texas. Dr. Mendoza leads the design, implementation, and evaluation of community and school-based behavioral programs aimed at (1) reducing sedentary activities or (2) improving physical activity and injury prevention in children.

Carol Alvarado, MBA. State Representative Carol Alvarado is a native Houstonian and a lifetime resident of Houston's East End. Before being elected to the State House she served on the Houston City Council from 2002 - 2008 and as Mayor Pro Tem from 2004-2006. Carol meets regularly with neighborhood leaders, civic clubs, area clergy and business leaders to discuss community needs and initiatives. Carol is a fierce advocate for healthy living initiatives that will cut the health risks that Texans face, thereby cutting the amount of spending we incur on behalf of the 6 million Texans that currently do not have health insurance. Carol has passed or authored bills that would have eliminated artificial trans-fat from Texas restaurants, required structured physical activity for Pre-K students in school all day, and banned the known carcinogen BPA from plastics sold in the state.

Charles Begley, PhD. Dr. Begley is Professor of Management and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health and a member of the adjunct faculty in the department of economics at Rice University. He received his doctorate in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and has been on the faculty of the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. Dr. Begley's research emphasizes the economic aspects of health policies and programs. He has directed or consulted on numerous health services and policy research projects at the national, state, and local levels. Dr. Begley teaches courses in health economics, state and local health policy, and policy analysis authored HB 5, the Smoke-Free Texas bill that would have eliminated secondhand smoke in most public workplaces.

Henry Brown, PhD. Dr. Brown is an Associate professor of Health Economics at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living Institute for Health Policy. He specializes in heath, public, and urban economics. He is the co-author of multiple books the latest entitled Capital Humano, Creciemento, Pobreza: Problmática Mexicana, chapter “Diabetes and Employment Productivity: Does Diabetes Management Matter?” He is a member of the International Health Economics Association and the American Economics Association. Dr. Brown’s research interest include the effects of and demand for health insurance; immigrants and minority groups; economic evaluation of public health interventions and the productivity costs of chronic illnesses.

John Lunstroth, PhD. Dr. Lunstroth is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center. He specializes in Health and Human Rights and Public Health Law. For numerous years he gave general counsel for several medium size companies. He has served as a board member for the International Intelligence Ethics Association, a liaison for the Council for Homeopathic Education, and a member Columbia University’s hearing panel and curriculum committee. Currently he is a member of the American Public Health Association and the American Society of International Law. Dr. Lunstroth is the book chapter author of Torture and the Regulation of the Health Care Professions, in Physicians at War: The Dual-Loyalties Challenge.

Keynote Speaker: Michael  I. Goran, PhD

 Professor of Preventive Medicine; Physiology and Biophysics; and Pediatrics
 Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Endowed Chair in
Childhood Obesity and Diabetes
Director, Center for Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer
 Director, Childhood Obesity Research Center (CORC)
 Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California