Faculty Bio

Christina D. Economos, PhD., holds the New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and is also Associate Director for the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition.  She is also an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts Medical School and Adjunct Faculty for Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. 

Among her research interests are the interaction between exercise, diet, body composition, bone health, and the built environment through longitudinal studies and lifestyle interventions to prevent osteoporosis and obesity, starting in early childhood. She also studies developing and applying behavior change strategies with children and families to improve diet and physical activity, working effectively with diverse communities, as well as crafting, implementing and evaluating nutrition education curriculum. 

She is the, now well-publicized, principal investigator for the Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart, Play Hard project which has just begun to release its first results. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this project was a 3-year (2002-2005), environmental change intervention designed to prevent obesity in culturally diverse, high-risk, early-elementary school children.  Somerville (MA) was the pilot city for a larger project now in its planning stages.