Dr. Judith Palfrey Receives PHA fellowship
Former Let’s Move! executive director will work with health professionals to address the issue of childhood obesity
WASHINGTON (March 7, 2012) – The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and its honorary chairwoman First Lady Michelle Obama to solve the nation’s childhood obesity crisis, today announced that Judith Palfrey, M.D., has been named as a part-time fellow to engage the health community, specifically medical professionals, in developing strategies to end the childhood obesity crisis within a generation.
Dr. Palfrey will also continue her work as the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Senior Associate in Medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston. She is the former Executive Director of Let’s Move! and also served as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics from 2009-2010. Prior to that, Dr. Palfrey was the chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital in Boston.
“Dr. Palfrey’s experience will be a valuable asset in PHA’s efforts to work with doctors, nurses and other health professionals who serve on the front lines of this epidemic,” said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. “She understands the difficulties the health community faces when dealing with this issue and will draw on that knowledge to develop strategies with other health professionals to overcome those hurdles. PHA is looking forward to having her work with us to solve the childhood obesity epidemic.”
The six-month fellowship is funded through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation founded PHA in 2010, along with The California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Nemours, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move!effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.