Education

• Ph.D. Behavioral Epidemiology, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
• M.S., Psychology, University of Memphis
• B.A., Psychology/Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota

Research Interests

• Childhood Obesity Prevention
• Population Translational Research and Dissemination
• Cancer Prevention and Control
• Health Behavior Change and Outcomes Measurement

Lisa M. Klesges, PhD, is Professor and Dean of the School of Public Health. Dr. Klesges received her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. Previously, she was an Associate Member in the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine,and Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She currently holds an adjunct faculty position at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as well as the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics.

Dr. Klesges has specialty training in Behavioral Epidemiology and her current work involves family‐based obesity prevention interventions in children, behavioral and environmental risk factor assessment related to childhood obesity, and in translational methods for behavioral interventions. Her published work has primarily focused on behavioral interventions, psychosocial predictors of smoking and obesityrelated behaviors, and epidemiologic research related to women’s and children’s health. Dr. Klesges has served as a principal investigator or co‐investigator on over 40 research projects supported by NIH, national philanthropic and local agencies. While appointed at UTHSC, she served as a Co‐Director of the Memphis Alliance for Public Health Research and built a program of community‐based research to promote women’s and children’s health improvement. Dr. Klesges has served on numerous review panels for CDC, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and NIH, including serving as a charter member of the Community Influences on Health Behavior Study Section. She has participated in national advisory groups including NIH workshops, NIDDK and Institute of Medicine planning meetings, Robert Wood Johnson initiatives, and CDC panels based on her work in childhood obesity prevention and translational research methods. She is an elected member of the American College of Epidemiology and a Fellow in the North American Association for the Study of Obesity as well as an elected member delegate on the Board of Directors of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. She has served as an Associate Editor of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, as guest editor for supplement issues of the Journal of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine, and is a past editorial board member of Health Psychology.