Christina Economos
Dean, Professor
- The New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition
- Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
- Co-Founder ChildObesity180
Christina Economos, PhD is the Dean at the Friedman School, a Professor and the New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition, and a Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. At the Friedman School, she co-founded and served as Director of ChildObesity180, a nationally renowned research initiative focused on evidence-based interventions, multi-sector partnerships, and stakeholder networks to address the complex drivers of child health and promote equity. She has served as the Dean for Research Strategy and as Chair of the Nutrition Interventions, Communications, and Behavior Change Division at Friedman.
Dr. Economos currently serves as the principal investigator on multiple large-scale, community-based interventions that examine childhood nutrition and physical activity with the goal of improving the health of all of America's children. Her bio-behavioral research studies are interdisciplinary and include theory-based obesity prevention interventions, cutting-edge systems science, and partnerships with diverse populations in urban and rural communities in schools, out-of-school environments, childcare centers, and restaurants. She has authored more than 200 scientific publications.
She has co-created and co-directed a university-wide institute to address global obesity as part of Tufts University’s research and scholarship strategic plan. The Tufts Institute for Global Obesity Research (TIGOR) is a community of over 50 faculty across 8 schools. She also serves as Vice Chair of the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions (ROOS) at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington DC, a multisector group tackling obesity.
A dedicated scientist, she is equally committed to teaching and mentoring both students and junior faculty members at the School. At Friedman, she has advised over 100 master’s students, supervised internships and directed studies, and served on multiple thesis committees. As Chair of the Nutrition Interventions, Communications, and Behavior Change Division, she grew it into one of the largest in the School through a focus on recruitment, research expansion, faculty development, diversity, equity, inclusion, and curriculum design.
Dr. Economos received a Bachelor of Science from Boston University, a Master of Science in Applied Physiology and Nutrition from Columbia University and a Doctorate in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University
Read more about Dr. Economos’ active studies within ChildObesity180 and Catalyzing Communities
- Replicating the Healthy Ways program with the Harlem Children’s Zone® (HCZ)
- Evaluating Children’s Physical Activity in School-Based Programs
- Creating the You're The Mom project in Boston, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia. YTM was a social media campaign that empowers moms to take small steps to make healthy eating fun and easy for their kids
- Developing community telehealth interventions in the THIS-WIC project with Assistant Professor and Project Director Erin Hennessy, PhD
- Read the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Report on Catalyzing Whole-of-Community Childhood Obesity Prevention Efforts, co-authored with Erin Hennessy and Ariella R. Korn
Education
- Ph.D., 1996, Nutritional Biochemistry, The Friedman School, Tufts University
- M.S., 1990, Applied Physiology and Nutrition, Teachers College, Columbia University
- B.S., 1987, Cardiopulmonary Science, Boston University
