The Center for Food and Environment focuses on research, education, and policy. Its research seeks to understand why people make the food choices they do, the food system context within which choices are made, and the types of interventions that facilitate voluntary adoption of more healthful and sustainable food choices. In the educational arena, the center develops, evaluates, and disseminates nationally curricula on the links between food, health, personal behavior, and the environment, conducts professional development, and provides educational outreach to the community. Over the last decade we have developed, evaluated, and disseminated the Linking Food and the Environment (LiFE) Curriculum Series, An Inquiry-Based Science and Nutrition Program with modules on Growing Food (grades 4, 5, or 6), Farm to Table & Beyond (grades 5 or 6) and Choice, Control, & Change (grades 6, 7, or 8). Policy work focuses on efforts to make the healthful and ecologically sustainable food and activity choices the easy choices in schools and communities. We are the evaluators of the New York City Food and Fitness Partnership that is one of the nine communities part of the national initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Executive Director: Pamela Koch EdD, RD
Contact Information:
Box 137
(212) 678-3001
pkoch@tc.edu
The Center for Health Promotion, which was established in 1981, has comprised diverse working groups of faculty and students interested in stimulating research and development efforts responsive to national priorities in health promotion and disease prevention. Historically, the work of participating faculty and students has spanned both basic and applied research and development, and has included projects focusing on the influences of personal behavior on health status, as well as how educational and behavioral intervention can be used to improve health and prevent premature death and disability throughout the human lifespan through schools, patient care, workplace, and other community-based settings. Current grant and subcontract projects include: NIH/NHLBI Motivational Interview-ing in Hypertensive African-Americans; NIH/NHLBI Translational Behavioral Science Consortium: Motivating Health Behaviors in Patients with Cardiopulmonary Disease; and NIH/NHLBI Trial of Asthma Patient Education in the Emergency Room.
Director: John P. Allegrante
Contact Information:
Box 114
(212) 678-3960
jpa1@columbia.edu
The Dean Hope Center for Educational and Psychological Services (DHCEPS) is an integral part of the teaching and training programs in Clinical, Counseling, School Psychology, Learning Disability and Reading Specialist. The Center works in a two-folded way; first it offers students the opportunity to integrate theoretical coursework with practicum experience within a multidisciplinary setting. This training is foreseen by highly qualified supervisors. Simultaneously, the DHCEPS offers affordable psychological and educational services to individuals, couples, and families residing in the nearby neighborhood of the New York City area. The emphasis is on respecting and working with clients from diverse, multicultural contexts regardless of age, racial and ethnic background, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and religious or cultural affiliations. Additionally, DHCEPS is committed to maintaining a liaison with community-based agencies and organizations such as schools, hospitals, and mental health clinics, among others.
The Health Disparities Conference at Teachers College, Columbia University provided an opportunity for varied professionals to gain exposure to evidence-based and state-of-the-art approaches to reducing/eliminating health disparities and moving society toward equity in health for all.