Exploring Obesity’s Impact on Women and Policy’s Role in Improving Outcomes

Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Black woman to represent Florida’s 20th congressional district, was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2023 to serve a second term.

Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick is honored to serve on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization. She is also the Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force for the Democratic Women’s Caucus, a Co-Chair of the Haiti Caucus, and serves as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick earned her BA in Political Science and Government from Howard University. In further pursuit of education, the Congresswoman also earned a Juris Doctorate from St. Thomas University.

While in office, Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick remains committed to tackling the growing housing crisis, inadequate access to quality health care, and lack of equitable opportunities throughout our district and country.

Dr. Bailey-Davis is an Associate Professor of Population Health Sciences and the Associate Director of the Center for Obesity & Metabolic Research at Geisinger, a large integrated health system in rural Pennsylvania. Dr. Bailey-Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Science at the Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in Nutrition Education at Immaculata College, and a doctorate in Adult Education at Penn State. She is also faculty in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State. She is a registered dietitian.

Dr. Bailey-Davis’ research addresses both structural and social determinants of health with the goal of improving nutrition, food security, and health equity for rural, low income maternal and child populations, with a commitment to halting intergenerational transmission through solutions that apply systems science. Her research primarily focuses on primary and secondary prevention of obesity, cardiovascular kidney metabolic disease, and child abuse and maltreatment. Stakeholder, patient, and community engagement is woven into the planning, conduct, and dissemination of her prevention research and implementation science program. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and serves on the editorial boards of Obesity Science & Practice, Nutrients, Frontiers in Public Health – Public Health and Nutrition.

Currently, her research program is supported with funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Heart Association, the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, the Degenstein Foundation, and the Geisinger Health Plan Foundation. Her past funding support includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Novo Nordisk, Merck, and Weight Watchers International. Dr. Bailey-Davis serves as a merit reviewer for both PCORI and the American Heart Association.

As a dedicated member of the Obesity Action Coalition and Immediate Past Chair of the OAC National Board of Directors, Patricia Nece, JD, is an avid advocate for sound obesity treatments and the eradication of weight-based bias, stigma, and discrimination. She encourages change by sharing her own experiences of living with obesity. Her advocacy work has included testifying before the U.S. Food & Drug Administration; participating in numerous Congressional briefings; and giving a patient’s perspective to legislators, healthcare providers, researchers, food-industry representatives, and more. Patty’s involvement with OAC, an 80,000-member nonprofit organization dedicated to giving a voice to individuals affected by obesity, has challenged weight bias, supported science-based obesity treatments and empowered others in their health journeys.

Patty currently chairs OAC’s Weight Bias Committee. She is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Obesity Solutions, the World Obesity Federation’s Policy and Prevention Committee, and the International Obesity Collaboration. She was awarded The Obesity Society’s Presidential Medal during the Presidential Plenary session at ObesityWeek® 2022, the leading international conference on obesity that brings together scientific, medical, policy and other professionals interested in obesity, for her contributions to the obesity field. Patty retired from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office in 2022 after 37 years of service.

Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley MD, MPH is an Earl Stadtman Investigator and Chief of the Social Determinants of Obesity and Cardiovascular Risk Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with a joint appointment in the Cardiovascular Branch of the Division of Intramural Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Powell-Wiley’s interdisciplinary team uses community-engaged research, epidemiologic methods, and translational approaches to better understand social factors that promote obesity and limit cardiovascular health. In 2021, Dr. Powell-Wiley’s innovative work was recognized with the American Heart Association’s Population Research Prize. In 2023, Dr. Powell-Wiley was chosen for the American Society for Clinical Investigation. In 2024, Dr. Powell-Wiley received the Presidential Medal of Distinction from The Obesity Society. At NIH, Dr. Powell-Wiley has mentored more than 50 research fellows at various career stages, several of whom are now tenure-track, NIH-funded faculty. Dr. Powell-Wiley serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Heart Association, as a Consulting Editor for Health Psychology, and is on the editorial board for the journal, Circulation. She has been recognized through NHLBI Director’s awards for developing a clinic in Washington, DC for community-engaged research, for mentorship of research fellows, and for promoting diversity in the biomedical workforce through mentorship efforts. Dr. Powell-Wiley graduated summa cum laude with a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She received an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated with an MD from Duke University School of Medicine, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Prior to joining NIH, Dr. Powell-Wiley completed internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and cardiology fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she served as the Cardiology Division’s first chief fellow.

Dr. Tracy Zvenyach is Director of Policy Strategy and Alliances at the Obesity Action Coalition. In this role, she provides leadership in the development and implementation of policy priorities and strategy for OAC and represents OAC in alliances and coalition efforts to advance obesity care. She also serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches healthcare policy and advocacy to graduate level students.

In her previous roles, Dr. Zvenyach led obesity public policy and advocacy efforts in industry and worked in the U.S. Senate for years, on topics ranging from healthcare, women’s policy, workforce, disaster response, and judiciary policy. Two legislative highlights include her work on provisions included in the Affordable Care Act and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Dr. Zvenyach’s research and publications focus on health economics and policy research to address barriers to obesity care, as well as diet quality of pregnant women receiving the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplemental food program.

Dr. Zvenyach received a BS in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her MS in nursing and PhD in health policy from the University of Maryland-Baltimore. Dr. Zvenyach volunteers her time on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Nurses Association.