Penny Gordon-Larsen

Penny Gordon-Larsen
Alma materTulane University
University of Pennsylvania
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Scientific career
FieldsNutritional science
InstitutionsUNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Penny Gordon-Larsen is an obesity researcher. In July 2023, she was named Vice Chancellor for Research[1] at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after serving as Interim Vice Chancellor for Research from March 2022. She is the Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she served as associate dean for research from 2018 to 2022, and was also named a William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor on Sept. 1, 2023.[2] She is also a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center.[3] Dr. Gordon-Larsen's NIH-funded research portfolio focuses on individual-, household-, and community-level susceptibility to obesity[4] and its cardiometabolic consequences, and her work ranges from molecular and genetic[5] to environmental and societal-level factors.[6] She was the 2015 president of The Obesity Society[7] and a member of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Clinical Obesity Research Panel (CORP).[8]

Education

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Gordon-Larsen completed a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and psychology from Tulane University in 1989. She earned a Ph.D. in human biology from University of Pennsylvania in 1997. She completed postdoctoral training in nutritional epidemiology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[7]

Career

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Much of her research focuses on issues related to ethnicity, disparities and development of obesity over the lifecycle, with attention to pathways linking environment and behavior to cardiometabolic risk. She has published on obesity as a multifactorial disease,[9] neighborhood factors,[10] and trends in obesity.[11] Her newest collaborative research is a large collaborative project with 27 faculty from 16 departments, six schools, and five centers and institutes. The project focuses on understanding why two people who consume the same diets and exercise equally can have very different susceptibility to weight gain, with the aim of developing treatment approaches that go far beyond the "one-size-fits-all" approach that is so common.[12] In November 2018, Gordon-Larsen was appointed the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health's Associate Dean for Research as she stepped down as chair of the NIH Kidney, Nutrition, Obesity and Diabetes study section.[13]

As the Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition, Gordon-Larsen led the Obesity Creativity Hub (Heterogeneity in Obesity Creativity Hub) "to bring researchers together to solve major societal problems."[14] She also served on the NIDDK Advisory Council.[15]

Personal life

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Gordon-Larsen has two children and enjoys hiking in her free time.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Penny Gordon-Larsen Named Vice Chancellor for Research". UNC Research. July 5, 2023.
  2. ^ "Distinguished professorships go to 58 faculty members". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  3. ^ "Penny Gordon-Larsen". Carolina Population Center. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Rao, Anita (July 12, 2018). "Being Heavy Affects More Than Your Health". WUNC.
  5. ^ "Americans Blame Obesity on Willpower, Despite Evidence It's Genetic". The New York Times. November 1, 2016.
  6. ^ Hellmich, Nanci (January 8, 2009). "Gain a Spouse and You'll Likely Gain Pounds Too". ABC News.
  7. ^ a b "Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD • UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health". UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  8. ^ "Clinical Obesity Research Panel | NIDDK". National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  9. ^ Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Heymsfield, Steven (April 10, 2018). "Obesity as a Disease, Not a Behavior". Circulation. 137 (15): 1543–1545. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.032780. PMID 29632150.
  10. ^ Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Nelson, Melissa C.; Page, Phil; Popkin, Barry M. (2006-02-01). "Inequality in the Built Environment Underlies Key Health Disparities in Physical Activity and Obesity". Pediatrics. 117 (2): 417–424. doi:10.1542/peds.2005-0058. ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 16452361. S2CID 5925679.
  11. ^ The, Natalie S.; Suchindran, Chirayath; North, Kari E.; Popkin, Barry M.; Gordon-Larsen, Penny (2010-11-10). "Association of Adolescent Obesity With Risk of Severe Obesity in Adulthood". JAMA. 304 (18): 2042–7. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.1635. ISSN 0098-7484. PMC 3076068. PMID 21063014.
  12. ^ "2018 Winners". UNC Research.
  13. ^ "UNC Appoints Gordon-Larsen Associate Dean for Research". Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health. November 9, 2018.
  14. ^ Calloway, Jane (January 4, 2021). "Focus Carolina: Penny Gordon-Larsen". thewell.unc.edu/. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  15. ^ "NIDDK Advisory Council: Members". niddk.nih.gov. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  16. ^ "Penny Gordon-Larsen". endeavors.unc.edu. August 8, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
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