Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika is a Professor in the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She has an interdisciplinary background and holds advanced degrees in social work, nutrition, and public health. She has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on several randomized multi-centre and single-centre clinical trials or observational studies of diet, obesity, weight control, and chronic disease risk.
Her current and recent studies involve the development and evaluation of interventions to prevent or treat obesity and promote healthy eating and physical activity in American high-risk groups — both children and adults, in clinical or community-based settings. She has received research funding from the NIH, the CDC, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In 2002, Dr. Kumanyika founded the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (www.aacorn.org), which seeks to improve the quantity, quality, and effective translation of research on weight issues in disadvantaged U.S. communities. She has published extensively in the scientific literature and lectured widely within the United States and abroad.
