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News
Fifth Conference on Public Health, Law, & Obesity
A Time for Action:
An Obesity Agenda for the Next Administration.
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) along with Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) is proud to sponsor the Fifth Conference on Public Health, Law, and Obesity to be held September 19, 2008-September 21, 2008 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
View the Agenda (pdf) and List of Speakers (pdf).
Advocates, public health practitioners, legal scholars, researchers, and policy makers are invited to come together to discuss the current legal approaches to the obesity epidemic. The conference will help stakeholders collaborate in developing a public health legal strategy with a foundation in environmental change that empowers communities and populations to tackle the public health implications of a broken food system and built environment.
Topics will include economic and social aspects of dietary behavior, the farm bill and its implications for food reform, food marketing and potential regulatory strategies, menu labeling, and regulatory solutions to increase physical activity. The conference will also discuss major policy implications between childhood and adult and family obesity prevention, as well as important disparity issues to be considered when making any policy recommendations.
Speakers, representing a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties, include Marion Nestle PhD, MPH(New York University), Kathryn Henderson PhD (Rudd Center for food policy and obesity), Frank Chaloupka PhD (University of Illinois at Chicago), Neville Rigby (International Obesity Taskforce), and Paul Simon MD, MPH (Los Angeles County Department of Public Health).
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School Food
The food and the marketing of food in schools are key factors in childhood obesity. The school food environment impacts not only children but their families and communities. Funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program, PHAI investigates how the law shapes the diets of children in the school food environment and how the law can be used as a public health tool to improve school food.
PHAI also investigates the design, implementation, and evaluation of enforcement mechanisms for nutrition and physical activity standards in K-12 settings. Our work in this area is geared to provide legal and policy assistance to advocates and public health practitioners working in the area.
PHAI recently published Mapping School Food: A Policy Guide, a tool to assist key decision-makers in developing and enforcing school food policies. More information and the guide are available here.
Contact
102 The Fenway, Suite 117CU
Boston, MA 02115-5000
Voice & Fax
617.373.2026 (voice)
617.373.3672 (fax)
Tobacco Control
Tobacco Control Resource Center (TCRC)
The Tobacco Control Resource Center (TCRC) was founded in 1979 by doctors, academics, and attorneys. It is an umbrella organization that implements tobacco control projects. These projects are funded through grants from institutions such as the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Legacy Foundation and other key organizations. Through these grants, TCRC is able to work with tobacco control professionals to combat the appalling strategies used by the tobacco industry to debilitate public health.
TCRC pioneers creative tobacco control measures and is continually engaged in analyzing and drafting legislation locally, nationally, and internationally. TCRC works closely with tobacco control advocates, policy makers and attorneys to ensure that new regulations will withstand challenges from the tobacco industry. One of TCRC’s major contributions to the public health arena is the Tobacco Products Liability Project (TPLP), which uses litigation against the tobacco industry as a public health strategy.
In 2006, TCRC and the Public Health Advocacy Institute entered into a merger.
Soon, we will begin importing the archives of the TCRC website here. Now, much that archival material can be searched from here.
People
Christopher Banthin, J.D., Director Tobacco Control Resource Center
Richard Daynard, J.D., Ph.D., President
Patricia Davidson, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Lissy Friedman, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Mark Gottlieb, J.D., Executive Director
Sara Guardino, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Marlo Miura, J.D., M.A., Staff Attorney
Robert Moore, J.D., Staff Attorney
Michael Schamann, Administration and Finance
Edward Sweda, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney
Cara Wilking, J.D., Staff Attorney
Obesity Project
The obesity epidemic represents one of the most pressing public health problems facing the United States today and requires consistent and coordinated public health solutions. In confronting this obesity epidemic, it is essential to explore the law both as policy tool and as a health determinant. Policies that affect food, nutrition, and physical activity are rooted in complex legal systems. PHAI approaches these problems with an environmental and population focus relying on public health practice. PHAI brings together practitioners in public health and law; legal academics; researchers; and advocates to explore the effective use of the law in combating obesity and to craft solutions to complex policy problems.
For more information about PHAI’s obesity project. Contact Jason Smith
Projects
PHAI focuses on a number of project areas: tobacco control, obesity, school food environments, and the regulation of marketing. You can learn more about our obesity and tobacco projects on their pages.For more information about the Motor Vehicle Hazards Archive Project. Visit its website.
Welcome
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) is a legal research center focused on public health law. PHAI’s goal is to support and enhance a commitment to public health in individuals and institutes who shape public policy through law. We are committed to research in public health law, public health policy development; to legal technical assistance; and to collaborative work at the intersection of law and public health. Our current areas of work include tobacco control and childhood obesity.
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Our Fifth Conference Conference on Public Health, Law, and Obesity is coming up on September 19-21, 2008 and is entitled “A Time for Action: An Obesity Agenda for the Next Administration. Please see our agenda, registration information, and list of speakers on our Conference page.