Childhood obesity: Science and solutions

For many children, the day-to-day realities of pandemic life—virtual school, social distancing, screen time, and stress—have added up to steep weight gain. The number of children diagnosed with overweight or obesity has shot up, and racial and ethnic gaps have widened. This panel brings together medical, scientific, and policy experts whose insights offer fresh solutions and hope for curbing the childhood obesity epidemic. 

MODERATOR 

Julia Belluz, Senior Health Correspondent, Vox 

SPEAKER(S) 

William Dietz, Chair of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness; Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University 

Sadaf Farooqi, Wellcome Principal Research Fellow; Professor of Metabolism and Medicine, Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge   

Steven Gortmaker, Professor of the Practice of Health Sociology; Director of the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity (HPRC); Director of the Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost-Effectiveness Study (CHOICES), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 

Saba Khan, Director, Food Pharmacies at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP); Attending Physician, Division of General Pediatrics at CHOP; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Faculty Scholar, CHOP Policy Lab