PANEL DISCUSSION

"Blueprint for a Healthy Nashville"

Follow-up on Dr. Richard Jackson's Lecture: Health Impact of the Urban and Built Environment

Panelists: 

Dr. Shari Barkin, Marian Wright Edelman Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Pediatric Obesity Research in the Diabetes Research and Training Center, and Chief of General Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Shari Barkin earned her undergraduate degree at Duke University, her medical degree at University of Cincinnati, and completed her pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA and completed a 4 year fellowship in Health Services Research.  Her research has focused on examining the effectiveness of pediatric office-based interventions and the development of connections from the office into the community to create sustainable effects on health. She is an NIH-funded researcher in the area of injury prevention and obesity prevention and early intervention. Most recently, she was funded by the NIH to evaluate the use of a recreation center as the extension of a doctor's office to provide early intervention for childhood obesity. She has also been the recipient of a Duke Endowment Grant that supported the building of the Collaborative to Strengthen Families and Neighborhoods- a learning lab to test a new model of community engagement that allows community and academic partners to develop and test meaningful interventions to address pediatric obesity. The Nashville Collaborative was launched in June 2008 in partnership with Metro Parks and Recreation. Building from her NIH studies, she has received a Tennessee State Implementation Grant to test the effect of a community-based family-centered pediatric obesity intervention program for Latino families with young children. Working with the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker program, Barkin’s team is also developing an approach to decrease excessive weight gain during pregnancy and increase appropriate infant feeding practices. She collaborates with a group of pediatric obesity researchers to develop and test promising approaches to stem the tide of pediatric obesity. Dr. Barkin is a co-investigator for the National Children’s Study and for the Vanderbilt Institute of Clinical and Translational Research. She chairs the National CTSA Pediatric Metrics of Success working group and serves as the Co-Chair of the National CTSA Consortium Child Health Oversight Committee.

Ms. Johnson holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies from Indiana University.  She serves on the Executive Board of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Mayor’s Healthy Nashville Leadership Team, and the Nashville/Davidson County Open Space Advisory Committee.

Leslie Meehan
Leslie Meehan is a native of Nashville, Tennessee and is a transportation planner for the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).  She specializes in policy and planning for bicycle and pedestrian facilities such as bicycle lanes, sidewalks and greenways.  She sits on the TN Strategic Highway Safety Committee which plans projects and campaigns to make roads safer for all roadway users.  She is co-chair of the TN Obesity Taskforce and works to strengthen the connection between health any physical activity through active transportation.

Leslie is a certified Bicycle Instructor by the League of American Bicyclists.  In her free time, Leslie enjoys racing mountain bikes with her husband and she enjoys riding her to son to daycare on a bicycle every day.

Dr. Paul started his Nashville career as Director of Health on July 9, 2007.  As Director, Dr. Paul oversees the public health of Nashville’s 600,000+ residents by leading a team of 475 full time employees and managing a budget in excess of $58 million.

Dr. Paul has a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, an MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and a Master in Public Health from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.  He completed internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.  He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and completed a public health fellowship as an Epidemic Intelligence Services officer in the Division of Vector Borne Infectious Diseases for the CDC.  Prior to accepting the top public health leadership role for Nashville, Dr. Paul served for nearly 15 years at the Chicago Department of Public Health, most recently as Deputy Commissioner for Epidemiology and Disease Control and as Interim Commissioner.

Dr. Paul has published several articles in peer-reviewed publications and presented at a number of conferences.  He is a recipient of a U.S. Public Health Service Unit Citation and Public Health Service Achievement Award, among other honors and awards. 

Dr. Paul believes strongly that public health needs to be rooted in science and evidence and also in excellence in management and community engagement.  He is working to build both staff and community strengths and capacity to address public health problems.  He is comfortable working with a broad and diverse workforce and community on the multifaceted issues of public health.