Shiriki Kumanyika

Kumanyika studied psychology at Syracuse University. She moved to Columbia University in 1965 where she earned a Master's degree in social work. She became a member of the American Public Health Association in 1976. She joined Cornell University, despite facing adversity due to her unconventional degree path before her PhD, for her graduate studies and completed a PhD in human nutrition in 1978. She worked at Cornell University as an assistant professor of nutrition between 1977 and 1984. Kumanyika went on to achieve a Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in 1984. She was appointed to the faculty of epidemiology and international health at Johns Hopkins University, and made co-director of the Global Obesity Prevention Centre. She worked at Johns Hopkins University between 1984 and 1989. She was a member of Delta Omega. She served on the Committee on the Ethical and Legal Issues Relating to the Inclusion of Women in 1994, assessing women's participation in clinical trials and the controversy surrounding the issues. She looked at trials of diet, exercise and weight loss for African American women, identifying tension inherent in clinical trial design. == Research ==

Kumanyika's research identified effective ways to reduce chronic diseases related to nutrition. Her efforts were focussed on achieving health equity for black Americans. African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians are most severely impacted by obesity. Kumanyika has studied the impact of obesity, salt-intake and other aspects of diet on human health. She joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and was made a professor in 1993. She was a Senior Fellow in the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and the Institute on Aging. In 1997 she published a comprehensive study of the possible adverse effects of sodium reduction. At the University of Pennsylvania she launched several weight loss trials, including TONE (Trials of Nonpharmacologic Intervention in the Elderly) and HOPE (Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Program). AACORN is funded by a National Institutes of Health health disparities grant. AACORN have members across 20 states. She directed the National Institutes of Health funded Project EXPORT, Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research, and Training. She published the Handbook for Obesity Prevention with Springer Publishing in 2007. She became increasingly interested in population-wide approaches to prevent obesity, complementing clinical prevention. She has studied how racial and health disparities are presented in US newspapers, finding the largest disparities in HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease and cancer. From 2008 to 2011 she was Vice Chair for the United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Advisory Committee for Healthy Promotion and Disease Prevention. In 2012 she was an expert of the HBO - National Academy of Medicine documentary Weight of the Nation. The documentary reported that 20% of women's and 14% of men's cancer cases are caused by obesity. She became an emeritus professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and joined the Dornsife School at Drexel University as a research professor in 2015. 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Minority Health and Health Equity Health Equity Champion 2015 The Obesity Society Diversity Leadership Award 2015 State University of New York Downstate Medical Center Honorary Doctorate of Science 2014 National Institutes of Health Robert S. Gordon Jr. Lecture 2013 President-elect of the American Public Health Association. 2011 American Public Health Association Wade Hampton Frost Lecture 2007 Woman's Day Red Dress Award 2006 American Journal of Health Promotion Robert F. Allen Symbol of H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People through Empowerment) Award 2005 Association of Black Cardiologists Dr. Herbert W. Nickens Epidemiology Award 1997 The Franklin Institute Bolton L. Corson Medal for Nutrition Research 1996 Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology 1992 Fellow of the American Heart Association == References ==