Marlene B. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Dr. Schwartz serves as the Deputy Director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. She received her B.A. from Haverford College and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. She completed her clinical internship at the Yale Medical School and post-doctoral training in the Yale Department of Psychology. Prior to joining the Rudd Center, she served as Co-Director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders from 1996-2006.
Dr. Schwartz's research bridges the fields of eating disorders and obesity and is focused on how home environments, communities, and school landscapes shape the eating attitudes and behaviors of children. She frequently collaborates on local state projects with the Connecticut State Department of Education and recently completed a large research study examining the effectiveness of an intervention to remove unhealthy beverages and snacks from schools.
Dr. Schwartz is the recipient of two grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research Program. The first was awarded in 2006 and examined the predictors and outcomes associated with local School Wellness Policies in Connecticut. The second grant, awarded in 2007, moves this field inquiry to a younger age group and examines predictors and consequences of food policies in preschool and daycare settings.
Dr. Schwartz co-authored a book for parents of children with eating disorders, entitled Helping Your Child Overcome an Eating Disorder: What You Can Do at Home (New Harbinger Press, 2003), and co-edited the book Weight Bias: Nature, Extent, and Remedies (Guilford Press, 2005).
Selected Research Articles
Schwartz, M.B., Brownell, K.D. (2007) Actions Necessary to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Creating the Climate for Change. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 78-89.
Schwartz, M.B., Thomas, J., Bohan, K., & Vartanian, L. (2007). Intended and unintended effects of an eating disorder educational program: The impact of presenter identity. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 187-92.
Vartanian, L., Schwartz, M.B., Brownell, K.D. (2007) Soft drinks, nutrition, and health. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 667-675.
Schwartz, M.B. (2007) The influence of a verbal prompt on school lunch fruit consumption: A pilot study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Mar 5;4:6.
Gapinski, K.D., Schwartz, M.B., & Brownell, K.D. (2006). Can Television Change Antifat Attitudes and Behavior? Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 11, 1-28.
Schwartz, M.B, Vartanian, L., Nosek, B., Brownell, K.D. (2006). The influence of one's own body weight on implicit and explicit anti-fat bias. Obesity Research, 14, 440-447.
Bannon, K. & Schwartz, M.B. (2006). The impact of nutrition messages on children's food choice: A pilot study. Appetite, 46, 124-129.
Geier, A.B, Schwartz, M.B., & Brownell, K.D. (2003). Before and after diet ads escalate weight stigma. Eating and Weight Disorders, 8, 282-288.
Puhl, R. & Schwartz, M.B. (2003). If you are good you can have a cookie: The link between childhood food rules and adult eating behaviors. Eating Behaviors, 4, 283-293.
Schwartz, M.B. & Brownell, K.D. (2004). Body image and obesity. Body Image, 1, 43-56.
Schwartz, M.B., Chambliss, H.O., Brownell, K.D., Blair, S.N., Billington, C. (2003). Weight bias among health professionals specializing in obesity. Obesity Research, 11, 1033-1039.
Schwartz, M.B., Chen, E.Y., & Brownell, K.D. (2003). Trick, treat, or toy: Children as likely to choose toys as candy on Halloween. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 35, 207-209.
Schwartz, M.B. & Puhl, R. (2003). Childhood obesity: A societal problem to solve. Obesity Reviews, 4, 57-71.
Selected Books and Chapters
Henderson, K.E., Schwartz, M.B. (2007). Treatment of Overweight Children: Practical Strategies for Parents. In Self-Help for Eating Disorders and Obesity. Latner, J. & Wilson, G.T. (Eds.)
Salbe, A., Schwartz, M.B., & Kohlstadt, I. (2006). Childhood obesity. In Nutrition for Musculoskeletal Health. Kohlstadt, I. (Ed.) Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis, pp 253-270.
Brownell, K.D., Puhl, R., Schwartz, M.B., Rudd, L. (Eds.) (2005) Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies. New York: Guilford Publications.
Schwartz, M.B. & Brownell, K.D. (2005). Future directions for preventive action on obesity. In Obesity prevention in the 21st century: Public health approaches to tackle the obesity pandemic. Crawford, D. & Jeffrey, R. (Eds.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 307-330.
Teachman, B.A., Schwartz, M.B., Gordic, B., & Coyle, B. (2003) How to help your child with an eating disorder: What you can do at home. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Press.