Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity

Jill Carter, MA, EdM, is wellness coordinator for Boston Public Schools. For the past 10 years, she has worked on curriculum development, implementation, training, and research of school-based nutrition and physical activity programs. From 1996 to 1997 she was the curriculum development coordinator for the School-Based Wellness Initiative in the department of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. Ms. Carter's years of experience as a high school and middle school science teacher provided her with the experience to design a curriculum that encourages active, inquiry-based learning across multiple disciplines. She earned her master of education degree in teaching and curriculum from Harvard University and her master of arts degree in exercise physiology from the University of Iowa.

Jean Wiecha, PhD, is a senior research scientist for the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Wiecha's research focuses on improving children's nutrition and physical activity habits. She has been working in the field for over 20 years and has published numerous studies on child nutrition and prevention of obesity. From 1994 to 1997, as a project director for the School-Based Wellness Initiative in the department of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health, she managed the federal research grant to develop, implement, and evaluate Planet Health. Dr. Wiecha earned her doctoral and master of science degrees in human nutrition from Tufts University.

Karen E. Peterson, ScD, is an associate professor of nutrition in the departments of nutrition and of society, human development and health at the Harvard School of Public Health. As director of public health nutrition, she oversees a program of translational research and graduate training focused on solving nutrition-related public health problems through leadership, innovation, and partnership. She draws from 15 years of experience counseling and administering nutrition services for children in clinical, community, and state health care settings. Dr. Peterson was coprincipal investigator of the Planet Health intervention trial. She earned her doctorate in nutrition from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Suzanne Nobrega, MS, is an independent project consultant in health communications and is project manager for a worksite health promotion intervention study. Both her master of science and bachelor of science degrees are in nutritional science, and she has over 15 years of experience in program management and materials development for health promotion programs aimed at children and families.

Steven L. Gortmaker, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the department of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health and principal investigator and director of the Harvard Research Prevention Center. He was also principal investigator of the Planet Health intervention trial. For the past 20 years, he has researched and practiced in the areas of children's nutrition and physical activity and has published more than 80 research articles. He was involved in early studies to document the increase of obesity in young people and television viewing as a cause of obesity. He earned his doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.