Seminar Description:

This talk will present the rationale and design of a new study, BMI², that will test the use of MI to reduce pediatric obesity in Primary Care. The study is a collaboration between the U of M, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Academy of Dietetics.

Speaker Description:
Ken Resnicow is a Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at University of Michigan School of Public Health. His research interests include: the design and evaluation of health promotion programs for special populations, particularly cardiovascular and cancer prevention interventions for African Americans; understanding the relationship between ethnicity and health behaviors; substance use prevention and harm reduction; motivational interviewing for chronic disease prevention; Type II diabetes prevention, and comprehensive school health programs. Current studies include: Healthy Body Healthy Spirit an NHLBI-funded intervention to increase physical activity and fruit and vegetable among African Americans recruited through Black churches using motivational interviewing; GO GIRLS, an NHLBI funded study to develop an obesity prevention program for overweight African American adolescent females; Body and Soul, an NIH/ACS collaboration to disseminate proven cancer control interventions using lay health advisors: a FOGARTY/NIH study to develop smoking prevention programs for South African Youth; and an NCI-funded project to test the impact of ethnic tailoring of dietary intervention materials. He has conducted MI workshops for numerous universities, research and practitioner groups worldwide as well as health voluntary (e.g., American Dietetics Association, Academy of Pediatrics) and government agencies including NIH (NIDDK, NICHD) and CDC.