THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHILDHOOD OBESITY PREVENTION GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM

Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1976, rising from 5% to 17% in 2008. Obesity is estimated to be responsible for nearly 10% of all U.S. medical spending, and associated costs were projected at $147 billion per year by 2008. To address this epidemic, and meet the goals of the Agriculture, Food and Research Initiative (AFRI), The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) will establish the Childhood Obesity Prevention Graduate Training Program to provide sustainable, comprehensive, problem-based training to help prevent child obesity. It will provide a new generation of behavioral nutrition professionals trained with the skills to break the cycle of environmentally-facilitated childhood obesity based on a rigorous program that combines coursework and research experience to train approximately ten graduate PhD students annually. Coursework will be required in five core programmatic areas: 1) Nutrition, 2) Child Development, 3) Family Studies, 4) Prevention and Intervention Research, and 5) Research Methodology and Statistics. Student experiences include internships in one of four career strands: Commerce & Industry, Education & Outreach, Medicine, and Public Policy. PSU is uniquely qualified to establish this training program given the university's 1) national preeminence and faculty leadership in research in nutrition, child development, prevention science and methodology, and 2) position as the land-grant institution of Pennsylvania, hosting the state's Agricultural Experiment Station and solidly rooted with excellence in agriculture, food research, and extension.