[act-ma] 4/11 (WED.) Cambridge Forum Discusses the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

[Cambridge Forum]

Cambridge Forum
 3 Church Street ● Cambridge, MA 02138
				
Pediatrician Alan Meyers discusses
“Fast Food/Fat Nation: America’s Growing Obesity Epidemic”
with Susan Linn and Kathleen Merrigan
7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2007
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Free and Open to the Public

Press Release

Pediatrician Dr. Alan Meyers discusses the multiple factors behind an alarming increase in childhood obesity in America with Susan Linn of the Judge Baker Children’s Center and Kathleen Merrigan of the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University at Cambridge Forum on Wednesday, April 11, 2007.  What impact will obesity-related diseases have on the quality of life of the next generation?  What stresses will our fast food life style place on our health care system?  Meyers, Linn, and Merrigan examine how Americans’ eating habits, sedentary lifestyles, government food policy, and more contribute to our weight gain and suggest a comprehensive rethinking of our children’s lifestyles.  The program is co-sponsored by Food for Free and moderated by Food For Free’s Executive Director David Leslie.  It begins at 7:30 p.m. at First Parish, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, in Cambridge.

	Alan Meyers is associate professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.  He also serves as co-chair of the Obesity Committee of the Massachusetts Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics and as staff pediatrician for the Nutrition and Fitness for Life program at Boston Medical Center.  His interest in the complex topic of childhood obesity rose from his work as staff pediatrician at the Boston Medical Center where his patients were from predominantly low-income and minority populations at highest risk for obesity and its complications.

	Susan Linn is associate director of the Media Center at Harvard’s Judge Baker Children’s Center.  A psychologist, performer, writer and award-winning television producer, she has helped children cope with issues ranging from mental illness to racism, death and loss.  Her current research focuses on marketing to children.

	Kathleen Merrigan is assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition and director of the Agriculture, Food, and Environment Program and the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at Tufts University.  She previously was at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she worked on a wide range of agricultural and food policy issues, including the development of the federal standard for organic food, and on matters related to biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, pesticides, and agricultural appropriations.

	Cambridge Forums are open to the public.  Open discussion follows speaker presentation.  Events are taped and edited for public radio broadcast throughout the nation.  Edited CDs are available to the public by contacting 617-495-2727.  Forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website at www.cambridgeforum.org and clicking on the WGBH Forum Network.

Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone/fax:  617-495-2727
email:  mailto:director at cambridgeforum.org
website:  http://www.cambridgeforum.org

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