Building capacity

Billions of dollars and incalculable talent have gone into the creation of a culture that both leads to and punishes obesity. The Rudd Center will continue to develop tools and avenues for action that bring about substantial change.

Research

The issue of personal responsibility is foundational to both our major areas of interest: preventing obesity and ending the stigma against overweight and obese people. This is a complex and highly charged topic that goes to the heart of many people’s most deeply held beliefs. Kelly Brownell assembled an academic dream team to look at personal responsibility from a variety of disciplines. These researchers are in the process of drafting an eye-opening and authoritative paper that will drive the food policy debate.

Our role as a resource for policy makers will continue to expand with the work of Victoria Brescoll, Kelly Brownell and Colleen Barry and Mark Schlesinger from the Yale School of Public Health, whose message-framing work will give reformers the tools to engage the public persuasively on obesity issues and the role of government in combating the epidemic. Through a series of studies, this group demonstrated that the public has a better grasp on the complex causes of obesity than does the media. They conducted a large scale survey to determine public support for initiatives to combat obesity. Finally, they are testing the persuasive power of various messages about policy change.

Consulting

The Rudd Center both responds to and creates opportunities to advance our goals through offering advice and support to a variety of individuals and organizations.

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©2007 Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University.
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