Susan Woolford
(She/her/hers)
Biography
Dr. Woolford, is an Associate Professor in the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Center, a Co-Director for the Program for Equity in Adolescent and Child Health (PEACH), the Michigan Child Equity Collaborative (MiCHEC), and the C. S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. She leads the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) Translational Science Summer Program at the University of Michigan and is a faculty member in the MICHR Community Engagement Program. From 2006 to 2016 she was the Medical Director of the Pediatric Comprehensive Weight Management Center (PCWMC). In this role she led the development and implementation of the programs offered by the PCWMC from its inception, including the Michigan Pediatric Outpatient Weight Evaluation and Reduction (MPOWER) programs, intensive, multidisciplinary interventions for children with obesity and their families.
Her research is focused on using new technologies in conjunction with message tailoring to enhance provider-patient communication, particularly with diverse populations, using community-engaged approaches. Her work has been informed by over 10 years of general pediatric practice, completion of a rigorous pediatric health service research fellowship, and completion of the Masters of Public Health degree. Her NIH funded research is focused on automated delivery of tailored messaging to improve adherence to treatment recommendations among adolescents and their parents participating in lifestyle modification and the use of location-linked mobile applications designed to prompt adolescents living in obesogenic communities to make healthy food choices at the point of sale. Due to her work in the area of e-communication, she served as the founding Chair of The Obesity Society Section on eHealth/mHealth, as the Co-Medical Director for the Children’s Hospital Association Expert Exchange on Childhood Obesity, and as a member of the Advisory Board for the American Academy of Pediatrics Institute for a Health Childhood Weight.
Research
Behavioral interventions in the clinical setting for the treatment of obesity in children and adolescents: focusing on the use of communications technology and community engagement to enhance engagement and adherence among patient populations disproportionately impacted by excess weight. Initiatives to impact public health and provide optimal pediatric care through collaborative research and improvement projects that examine areas where inequities may exist in care (by factors such as patient gender or weight status) and study the impact of projects implemented to improve care for all children. Dissemination of health-related science to, and in collaboration with, community members with the goal of increasing understanding and promoting behavior change.
