Christine Economos
Faculty & Alumna N96
- New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition
- Assistant Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and the Medical School at Tufts University
- American Diabetes Association's Woman of Valor for 2005
As obesity casts its grim shadow over American childhood, Chris Economos is fighting back—with thoughtful, comprehensive, multi-pronged efforts that actually work. With support from the New Balance Foundation, she launched Children in Balance, a major effort to design and evaluate research-driven obesity interventions that can trigger real change across the country. One community based intervention, called "Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard™" involves developed and implemented strategies to bring first through third grade students in Somerville, Massachusetts into energy balance. The program involves everything from revolutionizing school lunch menus to engaging and educating parents and after school caregivers, to holding in-class tastings of healthy foods, to finding safe ways for children to walk to school—the many small, vital steps in the march toward healthier kids.
