Dr. Haire-Joshu holds appointments in the Brown School and the School of Medicine. She directs the Obesity Prevention and Policy Research Center and also serves as associate director of the Diabetes Research and Training Center. Her current research focuses on population based and policy approaches to prevention of obesity and chronic disease, which is supported by a number of National Institutes of Health agencies including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Dr. Haire-Joshu most recently served as a Health Policy Fellow in the Office of Senator Barack Obama and as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of Senator Edward Kennedy. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and she is a member of Delta Omega, the honorary society for public health. She has published and presented her research extensively, and reviews for numerous professional journals and NIH research review groups.

What opportunities do you see for interdisciplinary collaboration on public health initiatives in the future?

“Public health research in general and health policy approaches in particular, by definition are dependent upon transdisciplinary collaboration. My past research projects in obesity prevention among underserved populations, have consistently involved broad multidisciplinary collaborations (e.g. biostatistics, dietetics, education, epidemiology, medicine, nursing, psychology, public health, social work) with community/organizational partners (e.g. national parent education groups, schools, public health clinics, mentoring programs). My current and future work will continue to depend upon and encourage diverse expertise.”