Grantee: Shari Barkin

Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Shari Barkin, M.D., M.S.H.S., is the William K. Warren Foundation Chair and Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Pediatric Obesity Research in the Diabetes Center, and Chief of General Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Barkin studies family-based, community-centered, behavioral interventions to measurably reduce pediatric obesity at sensitive periods of childhood development. Her lab focuses on changing body mass index trajectories in childhood and applies an ecological approach that considers the child in the context of the family, and the family in the context of the community. One theme of her lab is to identify and understand the interaction between behavior, environment and genetics across childhood development, ultimately, to prevent common chronic conditions later in life.

Dr. Barkin's Adaptation of a Prevention-Treatment (ADAPT) trial systematically assesses how to adapt and adopt an evidence-based, community recreation-centered, obesity prevention program with parent-preschool child pairs. The first year of the grant examined how to align and adapt the evidence-based approach to fit diverse communities. Currently, the grant is testing the adoption of the program with a focus on sustainability and fidelity.