Principal Investigator: Kristine Madsen, MD MPH

Kris is an Assistant Professor in UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, and her research focuses on identifying programs and policies to reduce childhood obesity and health disparities. She has led numerous school-based studies involving over 100 schools in the Bay Area, and she has collected body mass index (BMI) and survey data on over 1,000 students. Kris has conducted a series of studies related to BMI screening and reporting in schools, and findings from these studies have been published in JAMA Pediatrics and Journal of School Health. She will oversee all aspects of The Fit Study, including study design, school recruitment and retention, training schools to collect BMI data, student survey administration, generation and mailing of BMI reports, and data analysis and interpretation.  

Project Coordinator: Jenny Linchey, MPH

Jenny has worked on Dr. Madsen’s research team for 5 years and has coordinated data collection for several large-scale studies involving hundreds of schools. She also worked with Dr. Madsen on her studies of national BMI screening policies and methods of BMI notification in California. Ms. Linchey will oversee all communication with schools and will travel to all study schools to administer student surveys each year. Ms. Linchey will create study databases, oversee data entry, and conduct data quality assurance throughout the study. With the support of the Senior Project Coordinator, Ms. Linchey will conduct basic data analysis and draft papers resulting from the study.

Co-Investigator: Pat Crawford, DrPH RD

Pat is Director of the Atkins Center for Weight and Health and an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley. UC Berkeley’s Center for Weight and Health is a nationally recognized research center focused on program and policy efforts to improve nutrition and reduce obesity with an emphasis on low-resource populations. Pat has overseen the recruitment and retention of hundreds of schools for many multi-year studies. She has developed several survey instruments to assess youth attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to nutrition and physical activity, and she has expertise in survey administration among both students and parents. Additionally, Pat serves on a number of state and national advisory boards/committees, including the California Legislative Task Force on Diabetes & Obesity, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies’ Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies’ Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention Committee, giving her a broad perspective of obesity prevention policy. She will provide overall guidance and leadership for The Fit Study.

Senior Investigator: Lorrene Ritchie, PhD RD

Lorrene is Director of the Nutrition Policy Institute and Cooperative Extension Specialist in the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She has devoted her career to the development of interdisciplinary, science-based, and culturally relevant solutions to child obesity. Her current research interests include the relationship between school-level programs and policies and student dietary intake, the impact of policy on nutrition practices in childcare settings, and the impact of WIC nutrition education on child feeding practices. Lorrene will provide guidance on all aspects of The Fit Study, including study design, district and school recruitment, development of study measures, data collection in schools, sending BMI reports to parents, data analysis, and dissemination of study results.

Senior Project Coordinator: Hannah Thompson, PhD MPH

Hannah has worked on Kris’ research team for 6 years and has worked directly with hundreds of schools, coordinating anthropometric data collection and survey administration among thousands of students. Hannah will be in charge of conducting focus groups with parents during the first year of the grant to refine BMI reports, and she will assist the Center for Weight and Health in training schools to collect BMI data. She will oversee all aspects of school retention, with support from Pat Crawford’s team at the Center for Weight and Health. Hannah will also oversee all duties of the Project Coordinator throughout the study period and will draft study manuscripts and reports once the study is complete. 

Assistant Project Coordinator: Michelle Ross, MPH

Michelle Ross, MPH has worked at UC Berkeley's Center for Weight and Health for over 4 years, managing evaluations of school nutrition and physical activity interventions with children, WIC worksite wellness programs, and nutritional quality in the emergency food network. Ms. Ross will develop recruitment materials and training tools for The Fit Study. She will also assist with school recruitment and coordinating data collection activities in schools. She will travel with the Project Coordinator to study schools to administer the student survey each year.

Senior Analyst: Lauren Goldstein, PhD

Lauren is Director of Operations at the Atkins Center for Weight and Health. She has worked at the Center for 7 years overseeing multiple large scale research projects, and her background is in Developmental Psychology. She has extensive experience conducting large-scale school-based evaluation research including developing human subjects protocols, coordinating trainings, overseeing data collection activities, and editing reports. Lauren will provide overall guidance for The Fit Study and will oversee school recruitment and retention. 

Research Assistant: Christina Becker, BA

Christina has worked with UC Berkeley’s Center for Weight and Health for two years and has provided research support on school-based research studies throughout California. Christina will arrange all details of shipping parent information sheets to schools, and she will make travel arrangements for survey administration. Christina will also travel to Northern California study schools with the Project Coordinator and Assistant Project Coordinator to administer student surveys during each year of the study. Under the guidance of the Project Coordinator, Christina will be in charge of preparing and mailing parent surveys. She will also enter all study data into secure databases.