cartoon of a man and a boy cooking with the text: Healthy Cooking at Home!

iByte4Health wins HRSA 'Preventing Childhood Obesity' challenge

“High-tech” solutions to broad public health issues don’t always need the most advanced technology. Sometimes a simple approach meets the community’s needs best. A team at the College of Public Health has won the grand prize in a competition aimed at using technology to combat childhood obesity. The winning project, iByte4Health, sends daily mobile-phone text messages and video links to parents. “We thought, people are on their phones all the time. Text messaging is a really easy way to reach people,” says Gina Tripicchio, assistant professor in the Department of S...
Obesity
CORE
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research

Fisher named associate editor of 'Frontiers in Public Health'

Jennifer Orlet Fisher, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and associate director of Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education, is adding to her portfolio to become an associate editor of the journal Frontiers in Public Health.  Fisher, whose work focuses on the development of eating behavior during infancy and early childhood, will oversee peer review for articles in the journal’s new Public Health and Nutrition section and help the publication build a collection of manuscripts that focus on population-level nutrition. “I’m most ex...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Faculty
CORE
Nutrition
yoga mat, online fitness class, and dumbbells

'Fitness orientation' and social support among predictors for long-term bariatric success

For those who have bariatric surgery procedures, increasing physical activity post-surgery is an important component of maintaining weight loss. But patients don’t always engage in enough physical activity to receive the full benefits of the surgery. A study led by Sara Kovacs, assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Kinesiology, examined what factors influence participation in physical activity among people who have had bariatric procedures. The research found the strongest predictors of increased physical activity were an increased “fitness orientation,”...
Kinesiology
CORE
Obesity

Sarwer co-edits special issue of 'American Psychologist'

David Sarwer, associate dean for research at the College of Public Health, was an ideal choice to serve as co-editor of a special issue of American Psychologist, the flagship scientific journal of the American Psychological Association, dedicated to obesity: Sarwer directs Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), and much of his work focuses on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of obesity. Obesity is one of the most pressing long-term public health issues in the United States. Approximately 40 percent of American adults currently have obesity (defined...
Obesity
CORE
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Faculty
David Sarwer portrait

With ACS working group, Sarwer combats bariatric bias

Studies continue to establish the medical benefits of bariatric surgery: Beyond helping persons with clinically severe obesity to lose pounds to look and feel better, bariatric procedures can result in lowered risk of obesity-linked issues including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, and premature death.  But bariatric surgery faces an obstacle that many other medically beneficial procedures don’t. There’s a bias—across society and even within the medical community—against accepting obesity as a chronic disease, as many chalk it up to poor lifestyle choices...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
CORE
Dentist examining boy's teeth

CORE–Dentistry collaboration addresses childhood obesity and cavities

A new collaboration between faculty members in the  College of Public Health’s Center for Obesity Research and Education and Temple’s Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry aims to incorporate nutrition and obesity screenings into regular dental care. The collaboration has resulted in the publication of a new guide for dental professionals titled the “Nutrition Counseling and Obesity Prevention Handbook." Obesity and dental decay are prevalent chronic childhood diseases. The same foods and factors that lead to dental decay—sugary foods, sodas, and candy, for insta...
CORE
David Sarwer portrait

David Sarwer appointed fellow of Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research

David B. Sarwer, associate dean of research and director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), has been elected as a fellow to the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. “Dr. Sarwer's nomination to the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research is a well-earned recognition of his leadership in the field of obesity,” said Laura A. Siminoff, dean of the College of Public Health and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Public Health. “We are fortunate to have such a talented investigator contributing to the research and educational mission of the College." The...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
CORE
feet

On the News: Making successful New Year's resolutions

The start of a new year can feel like a good opportunity to reset unhealthy behaviors. But while many people will resolve to “exercise more” or “eat healthy” in the new year, evidence suggests that most will have abandoned these resolutions by early February. With the end of January 2019 nearing, we asked faculty members at the College of Public Health to weigh in on popular resolutions. Below, faculty share their insights about where New Year’s resolutions can go awry and why gradual changes are often the most successful. 'Some Physical Activity Is Better Than None'...
Kinesiology
Social and Behavioral Sciences
CORE
Gina Tripicchio portrait

Tripicchio named winner in first phase of challenge to prevent childhood obesity

A new project by Gina Tripicchio, assistant professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was selected as one of 10 winners in the first phase of the Using Technology to Prevent Childhood Obesity in Low-Income Families and Communities Challenge by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The challenge is one of four Grand Challenges launched by MCHB that addresses critical maternal and child health issues. As a winner, Tripicchio received funding for her project, “...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
CORE
surgical tools

Poor health insurance coverage is likely barrier to effective obesity treatment

One out of every three American adults has obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30. About one in 13 American adults has extreme obesity and weighs 100 pounds more than their recommended body weight, leaving them with a BMI of 40 or greater.  And yet, only 1 percent of the patients eligible for bariatric surgery, considered to be the most effective treatment for obesity, actually undergo the surgery each year. Prior research has explored sociocultural factors that could contribute to this underutilization, but according to a review authored by Hamlet Gasoyan,...
Health Services Administration and Policy
CORE