Research
Dr. Lilian Cheung is Lecturer and Director of Health Promotion & Communication at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition. She is the Editorial Director of The Nutrition Source, the school’s nutrition website for health professionals, media and consumers. She also serves as co-editorial director of the Obesity Prevention Source, a website providing science based information for policy changes at the community level, as well as the Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative, a website providing research-based evidence for policy makers and public with the goal of reversing the spread of type 2 diabetes in Asia. Her work focuses on the translation of science-based recommendations into public health communications and programs, to promote healthy lifestyles for chronic disease prevention and control.
She is the co-Principal Investigator and co-author of Eat Well & Keep Moving (2001, 2nd edition 2007, 3rd edition 2015), a globally disseminated school-based nutrition and physical activity program for upper elementary school children. She is a Co-Investigator at the CDC Harvard Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Other work includes her role as co-editor of Child Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity (1995) with the late Surgeon General Dr. Julius Richmond, and co-author of Be Healthy! It’s A Girl Thing: Food, Fitness and Feeling Great! (2003, 2nd edition 2010), a book written for adolescent girls. Her latest book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life (2010, 2011) co-authored with Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, is in 17 languages.
Related Websites
The Nutrition Source – A web site maintained by the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Aside from smoking, the most important determinants of good health are what we eat and how active we are. The Nutrition Source is designed to get you started down the path toward the healthiest diet possible.
Obesity Prevention Source—An in-depth resource for all who seek to understand the causes of obesity—and to reverse the epidemic of obesity in children and adults. Policy and environmental changes are the foundation of obesity prevention. Our goal is to inform and empower people with science-based information about what can and must be done to prevent adult and childhood obesity; to help those who are overweight achieve a healthier weight; and ultimately, to turn back the obesity epidemic’s global spread.
Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative—The rapidly emerging diabetes epidemic in Asia has the potential to overwhelm health care systems, undermine economic growth, and inflict unprecedented levels of disability on the world’s most populous continent. We aim to put a stop to this deadly epidemic by offering Asian countries authoritative, science-based information to stop the spread of type 2 diabetes.
Eat Well & Keep Moving – Eat Well & Keep Moving is an interdisciplinary, elementary school program designed to promote healthful eating and physical activity in schools, homes, and communities.
Education
D.Sc. in Nutrition, 1978, Harvard School of Public Health
M.S. in Nutrition, 1975, Harvard School of Public Health