Advisors to NPLAN
NPLAN's advisory board provides critical guidance as we develop policy priorities, determine the direction of our legal research, and build our capacity across the childhood obesity prevention movement.
In addition, NPLAN has three learning communities, focused on marketing to children, the pre-school and K-12 environments, and the built environment.
Within NPLAN's learning communities, a cross-section of experts representing different fields work together on specific policy issues facing the movement.
NPLAN’s learning communities serve as a microcosm of the national childhood obesity prevention movement, providing a forum to talk about its priorities, opportunities and constraints. Perhaps most important, the learning communities help NPLAN staff attorneys anticipate and address the movement’s policy development needs, fostering accountability between NPLAN and the broader constituencies it is designed to serve. Each of NPLAN’s three learning communities consists of about eight leaders from the advocacy, scientific, policy and legal communities. Each learning community is assigned to a broad policy arealimiting marketing to children, for exampleand all of its members have expertise in some aspect of the issue to which they are assigned.
[ All Members | Advisory Board | Improving Childcare and School Environment | Improving the Built Environment | Marketing to Children ]
- Stephen SugarmanRoger J. Traynor Professor of LawUniversity of California at Berkeley School of LawAdvisory BoardSteve has served as a law professor at UC Berkeley since 1972 where he teaches the law of torts, sports law, educational policy, and other courses in the social justice curriculum. His books include Regulating Tobacco and Smoking Policy. His recent articles include Fighting Childhood Obesity Through Performance-Based Regulation of the Food Industry, Making the Food and Beverage Industry Take Responsibility for Reducing Childhood Obesity: A Market-based Approach to Public Health, and Should Tobacco Companies Be Required to Reduce Their Number of Customers? Steve is a Senior Program Consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Chair of the Legal Team of the Technical Assistance Legal Center.
JD: Northwestern School of Law
- Marilyn Aguirre-MolinaProfessor, Lehman CollegeThe City University of New York, Department of Health SciencesHealth Sciences Doctoral ProgramsAdvisory Board | Marketing to ChildrenMarilyn has an extensive background in addressing the needs of underserved youth and adults, with a particular focus on Latinos. She has studied the effects of structural and sociocultural factors on access to care, with a special emphasis on culturally and linguistically responsive systems of care. Prior to joining Lehman College, she served as a professor of clinical population and family health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; the executive vice president of The California Endowment, and as a senior program officer at RWJF.
EdD: Columbia University Teacher’s College
- Adam BeckerExecutive DirectorConsortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago ChildrenAdvisory Board | Improving Childcare and School Environment | Improving the Built EnvironmentAdam has a long career in performing and analyzing community-based participatory research in public health, applying this approach to such issues as the impact of stressful community conditions on the health of women raising children, youth violence prevention, and the impact of the social and physical environment on physical activity. Prior to directing CLOCC, Adam served as a faculty member at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; he also was the director of evaluation and research at the Louisiana Public Health Institute in New Orleans.
MPH, PhD: University of Michigan School of Public Health
- Kim BlumResources ManagerAction For Healthy KidsImproving Childcare and School Environment
- David BrittConsultantMarketing to Children
- Pat CooperChief Executive OfficerEarly Childhood and Family Learning FoundationLouisiana Public Health InstituteImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Andrew DannenbergAssociate Director for ScienceDivision of Emergency & Environmental Health ServicesNational Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionImproving the Built Environment
- Lori DorfmanDirectorBerkeley Media Studies GroupMarketing to Children
- Sherry Everett JonesDivision of Adolescent and School HealthCenters for Disease Control and PreventionImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Reid EwingAssociate ProfessorNational Center for Smart GrowthUniversity of MarylandImproving the Built Environment
- Myron FloydProfessor, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism ManagementNorth Carolina State UniversityImproving the Built EnvironmentMyron Floyd is a Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University. Active in both teaching and research, he teaches courses in evaluation and research methods and park and protected area management. His most recent research examines how public parks and other neighborhood features contribute to physical activity in low income communities of color. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences and is the 2008 recipient of the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Recreation and Park Research, the highest honor for research given by the National Recreation and Park Association.
MS: Clemson University
PhD: Texas A&M University
- Robert GarciaExecutive DirectorThe City ProjectImproving the Built Environment
- Martin GonzalezAssistant Executive Director, Governance and Policy ServicesCalifornia School Boards Association (CSBA)Advisory Board | Improving Childcare and School EnvironmentMartin was instrumental in CSBA’s efforts to create the Children’s Health Task Force and the 2007 School Wellness Conference. He chairs California’s Action for Healthy Kids, as well as chairing the California Youth and Workforce Wellness Task Force’s School Committee. He is an often-invited speaker on the board’s role in policy and development that supports a healthy eating environment. Martin was also instrumental in the development of the Healthy Food Policy Resource Guide, the Student Wellness: A Healthy Food and Physical Activity Policy Resource Guide, and the Monitoring for Success: A Student Wellness Implementation Monitoring Report and Guide.
JD: University of California at Berkeley, School of Law
- Nora HowleyManager of ProgramsNational Education Association Health Information NetworkAdvisory Board | Improving Childcare and School EnvironmentNora serves as the lead within the Health Information Network on issues related to child and adult wellness and provides strategic leadership for all of the organization’s programs. She has previously worked consultant on school health and wellness issues based on work in public education and health over a 25+ year career. In 2007 she served as the Interim Executive Director of Action for Healthy Kids, a national non-profit focused on changing the school environment to address child obesity and undernourishment. Prior to that, Nora was with the Council of Chief State School Officers where she served as the Director of the School Health Project. Nora has also been n an instructor in health education at Montgomery College, in Rockville, Maryland and spent 10 years as an early childhood educator, working with children ages birth to six.
MA: University of Maryland
- Jennie JoeProfessor, Dept. of Family & Community Medicine, and Director, Native American Research & Training CenterCollege of MedicineUniversity of ArizonaImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Vivica KraakNutrition and Physical Activity AdvisorSave the ChildrenMarketing to Children
- Ted MerminConsultantMarketing to Children
- Joyal MulheronProgram Director, Health DivisionNational Governor's AssociationAdvisory BoardJoyal manages the public and population health portfolio for the NGA by providing states with specialized technical assistance on programs and policies related to disease management, prevention, state employee health benefits, childhood obesity, and wellness design. Prior to joining the NGA, Joyal served as a Senior Policy Manager to American Cancer Society and independently consulted for the National Academies of Sciences.
MS: Johns Hopkins University
- Kami PothukuchiAssociate ProfessorDept of Geography & Urban PlanningWayne State UniversityImproving the Built Environment
- Maya RockeymooreDirectorLeadership for Healthy CommunitiesAdvisory BoardMaya directs Leadership for Healthy Communities—a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which supports state and local policy leaders in efforts to create healthier communities by promoting policies and programs that will improve access to affordable healthy foods, increase opportunities for safe physical activity, and improve the social environments that shape how children perceive and relate to healthy eating and active living. Previously, Maya worked for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation where she managed a portfolio of programs regarding economic development, education, public health and international affairs.
PhD: Purdue University
- William SageVice Provost for Health Affairs and James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty ExcellenceThe University of Texas at AustinAdvisory BoardBill is charged with expanding UT-Austin’s contributions to biomedical research, the health professions, and health policy in partnership with other University of Texas campuses and the Austin community. Previous to joining UT, Bill was a law professor at Columbia, Harvard and Duke. His areas of research are patient safety, health care quality, access to health care, health insurance, medical liability, competition in health care, health care information, and the regulation of health professionals. His edited books include Medical Malpractice and the U.S. Health Care System and Uncertain Times: Kenneth Arrow and the Changing Economics of Health Care.
MD and JD: Stanford University
- Noelle Sojka-RidderSchool Programs CoordinatorConsortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago ChildrenImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Lisa SoronenSenior Staff AttorneyOffice of General CounselNational School Boards AssociationImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Lori SternPolicy Implementation AdvisorAlliance for a Healthier GenerationImproving Childcare and School Environment
- Nina WalfoortDirector of Marketing and PlanningTransit Authority of River CityImproving the Built Environment
- Jerome WilliamsF.J. Heyne Centennial Professor in Communication, Department of Advertising; Professor, Center for African and African American StudiesUniveristy of Texas at AustinAdvisory Board | Marketing to ChildrenJerome has conducted research on marketing communications and promotion strategies targeting multicultural market segments, consumer behavior of multicultural market segments, Internet privacy, and public health communication issues. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Food Marketing and Diets of Children and Youth that authored the report Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? Prior to joining the UT faculty, he was a faculty member in the Marketing Department in Howard University’s School of Business, where he also was Director of the Center for Marketplace Diversity; and at the Penn State University marketing department. He has visiting scholar appointments throughout the world.
MA: Union College; PhD: University of Colorado
- Margo WootanDirector for NutritionCenter for Science in the Public InterestMarketing to Children
- Antronette YanceyAssociate ProfessorUCLA School of Public HealthImproving Childcare and School Environment
