Wisconsin Obesity Prevention Initiative | UW Madison, Wisconsin

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The Obesity Prevention Initiative is a project that works to improve health by impacting childhood obesity through a multi-faceted approach including community-based participatory research, statewide outreach, surveillance and dissemination.

Childhood health

Active transportation complete streets

Children nutrition

farmers market

healthTIDE

Wisconsin Health Atlas

Mobilize for Health

Mobilize for Health

UW-Madison

Catalyst Meetings

The purpose of the monthly, obesity focused Catalyst Meetings is to bring together faculty, staff and students across the spectrum of obesity research to share knowledge and make connections in order to catalyze the rate of collaboration.

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Student Research Panel

March 27, 2019

The March Catalyst Meeting will feature students presenting on research in physical health & wellness, presented by Chloe Green, Jess Gorzelitz, Rissa Lane, and Lisa Charron!

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February 27, 2019

Wisconsin Obesity Prevention Initiative Panel: Progress and Looking Ahead

The February Catalyst Meeting will feature researchers and practitioners from the Wisconsin Partnership Program sponsored Obesity Prevention Initiative (OPI) discussing the progress and current initiatives within OPI.

We'd like to hear your feedback on the initiatives future! Submit Feedback Here.

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November 28, 2018

Getting the word out! Disseminating your research through dissemination plans, engaging partners, and through social media

Rob Fontella is the Communications Manager for healthTIDE as part of the UW-Madison's Obesity Prevention Initiative. His background is in writing, media production, and facilitation and he is most passionate about storytelling and social media.

He is excited to present some lessons learned that inform the Obesity Prevention Initiative's significant announcements, launches, and campaigns.

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October 24, 2018

Catalyzing health: Food-related activities and measures of hospitals and farmers markets.

Alfonso Morales, PhD (Northwestern), is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning (College of Letters and Sciences) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is originally from rural New Mexico with roots in family farming there and in West Texas. He has established a nationally and internationally recognized and policy-relevant program of research on street vendors and marketplaces that has described the organization and consequences of marketplace processes historically and across populations. He has extensive experience with students in community-based outreach and research.

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September 26, 2018

Mixed-methods research to understand the physical activity access, needs, and preferences among rural Wisconsin Women

Lisa Cadmus, Bertum, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control program at the UW Carbone Cancer Center. She holds a joint Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Psychology from Yale University and has 14 years of research experience in energetics and cancer.

Lab member, Jess Gorzelitz interests include physical activity in populations, specifically women and cancer survivors and understanding how physical activity contributes to health as a whole. Additionally, she is interested in investigating resistance-training interventions for women and cancer survivors, and studying population-level physical activity assessment.

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August 29, 2018

Weight loss maintenance: The holy grail of weight loss interventions

Dr. Voils, social psychologist, uses qualitative and quantitative methodologies to study and improve treatment adherence. One area of Dr. Voils’ research interest is in developing and evaluating behavioral interventions for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. She led a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate a telephone-delivered, spouse-assisted intervention to improve patient cholesterol levels (CouPLES). She recently completed an RCT to evaluate a weight loss maintenance intervention following behavioral weight loss (MAINTAIN). She has a new pilot from the VA to evaluate the feasibility of adapting the intervention to promote weight loss maintenance among patients following bariatric surgery. With R34 funding from the NHLBI, she is evaluating the feasibility of providing financial incentives for dietary self-monitoring and weight loss.

July 25, 2018

A Population Health Perspective on Obesity in Wisconsin

Hilary Joyner is an Assistant Researcher and Surveillance Coordinator for the Wisconsin Partnership Program-funded Obesity Prevention Initiative. Her background is in quantitative methods, survey administration, psychology and human development. She has experience working with a variety of data, including electronic health records and survey data. In 2015, Hilary received a M.S. degree in Population Health Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with a Prevention Science Certificate with a focus on Quantitative Methods.

June 29, 2018

TOWNHALL TALK: national experts in obesity prevention & health promotion

Join us for a special edition June Catalyst Meeting with a panel of national experts in obesity prevention and health promotion for an open Q+A to discuss the state of research, evidence-based solutions and community engagement.

May 31, 2018

Mobilizing Action Towards Community Health: Equity in Community-Based Nutrition Programming

Paula Tran Inzeo - Mobilizing Action Towards Community Health (MATCH) Program Director.
Paula’s areas of research and practice focus on topics of health equity and health equity capacity building, collective community action, power building, and health in all policies.

Amber Canto - FoodWIse State Coordinator
Provides leadership for the FoodWIse program, a federally-funded effort that aims to reduce diet and physical activity-related health disparities by: empowering families and individuals with limited financial resources to choose healthful diets and to become more food secure by spending food dollars wisely.

April 26, 2018

Parental Psychological Distress in Childhood Obesity

Myoungock (Mio) Jang, PhD, RN, is Assistant Professor in the UW School of Nursing.

Through her research, Mio Jang works to reduce obesity, promote health, and prevent chronic health conditions. She is interested in family-based approaches to better understand factors associated with childhood obesity in diverse families. In her current research, Dr. Jang seeks to identify the relationship between psychological factors such as stress, depression, and sleep and family health behaviors and metabolic risks in children.