Theresa Nicklas, Dr.PH., M.P.H.
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

Theresa A. Nicklas, DrPH, is Professor of Pediatrics at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.  Prior to moving to Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Nicklas, was Chair and Professor of the Department of Food and Nutrition at North Dakota State University for 2 ½ years.

She has 14 years experience in spearheading the dietary studies of the Bogalusa Heart Study and she continues to be an active consultant for this premier study.  The Bogalusa Heart Study is an epidemiologic investigation of the early natural history of cardiovascular disease and the environmental determinants in a biracial pediatric population, which began in 1973.  She was Chairperson of the school nutrition intervention-working group of the multi-center trial called the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health, which was implemented in 96 schools across four states.  She was Principal Investigator of a four year NIH grant focusing on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption of high school students.  One of her current research interests is looking at eating patterns that are associated or predictive of obesity between childhood and young adulthood.  She is also studying the environmental influences on eating habits of preschool children.  Dr. Nicklas has served as a consultant to the United States Army Research Institute; United States Department of Agriculture; and for organizations in Hungary, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.  Dr. Nicklas has published more than 225 scientific papers, 6 book chapters and 5 monographs.  She is author of the American Dietetic Association position paper on Dietary Guidance for Healthy Children Ages 2-11 years and she served on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.  Her areas of expertise are cardiovascular health and nutritional epidemiology, child nutrition, and health promotion and chronic disease prevention.