Debra Haire-Joshu is an internationally renowned scholar of health behavior who develops population-wide interventions to reduce obesity and prevent diabetes among underserved women and children. She holds a joint appointment in the Washington University School of Medicine, and directs the
Center for Obesity Prevention and Policy Research (COPPR) and the
Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research (WU-CDTR).
COPPR aims to discover and integrate new science into policies designed to prevent obesity. The WU-CDTR, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, supports over 80 investigators across the country conducting studies to eliminate the root causes of obesity and disparities in Type 2 diabetes. Haire-Joshu also serves as a faculty director for the
Centene Center for Health Transformation, an industry-academic research collaboration that tests, implements and evaluates behavior-based interventions in real-world settings.
Haire-Joshu serves on the advisory board to national organizations addressing obesity prevention programs, she is a member of an NIH study section, and she has published and presented her research extensively. At the Brown School, Haire-Joshu teaches obesity prevention and policy courses and works with masters and doctoral students to engage in applied community research.
