NCCOR members receive awards for making strides to combat obesity

On May 8, at Weight of the Nation’s Pioneering Innovation Awards ceremony, three members of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) received awards in recognition of their work to combat obesity.

Tracy Orleans, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and NCCOR Steering Committee, accepted the “Applied Obesity Research Award” on behalf of RWJF for her leadership of the Active Living Research and the Healthy Eating Research programs. This award is given to an individual or organization whose development and implementation of obesity methodologies has resulted in successful obesity prevention strategies.

Also receiving awards for this work were NCCOR External Scientific Panel members Dr. Jim Sallis, for the Active Living Research program, and Dr. Mary Story, for her role in the Healthy Eating Research program. Together the three of them contribute to the success of these national RWJF initiatives.

A surprise award was given to Dr. William Dietz, retiring director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO). Dietz, who has served in an advisory role to NCCOR during its annual briefings with senior leadership, is retiring this year after a lengthy and distinguished career as a champion in the fight against obesity.

The 2012 Weight of the Nation conference is hosted by the CDC’s DNPAO. It is designed to provide a forum to highlight progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies.