Promoting Children’s Health By Building Healthier Food Environments

David Wallinga is a medical doctor who does advocacy work to improve agricultural and public health policies as they relate to childhood environmental health, particularly around food and nutrition. Dr. Wallinga wants to use this award to enhance his ability to identify and understand high-quality research, and to advocate for more policy use of such research. Dr. Wallinga will work within the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. His primary mentor will be Dr. Mary Story, who is known for her work in science, public health, and education in the area of childhood obesity. Dr. Wallinga will participate in her work on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research project, as well as with the University’s Obesity Prevention Center. Dr. Wallinga will work with the researchers in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health writing grants, performing research and evaluation, and helping to plan a major conference on agricultural policy, food systems, and obesity. His ultimate goal is to foster collaboration between researchers on the application of systems linking childhood obesity and food systems.