Comparative Approaches to Nutrition Education and Childhood Obesity Prevention - USA and France

April 2006

Special Guests

Ann Cooper, Executive Chef,
Author and Consultant for the Chez Panisse Foundation in California and for FoodChange in New York

Ann Cooper, CEC, is the former Executive Chef and Director of Wellness and Nutrition of The Ross School in East Hampton, New York, where she cultivated an innovative food service program serving over 1300 regional, organic, seasonal and sustainable meals each day.  Ann is the author of the recently released book In Mother's Kitchen: Celebrated Women Chefs Share Beloved Family Recipes, as well as Bitter Harvest: A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Foods We Eat and What You Can do About It, A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen: The Evolution of Women Chefs, and the forthcoming, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way America Feeds its Children.  Chef Cooper, former Executive Chef of the Putney Inn in Vermont, is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and was one of the first fifty women to be certified as an Executive Chef by the educational arm of the American Culinary Federation.

Ann's career has taken her from positions with Holland America Cruises to Radisson Hotels to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Telluride Ski Resort where she catered parties of up to 20,000.  She has been featured in Gourmet, Food Arts, Chef, Restaurants & Institutions, Nation's Restaurant News, National Culinary Review, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, Woman's Day, Newsday, Martha Stewart, ABC News and has been on both local and National radio and television shows.  Ann has shared her knowledge and experiences by giving seminars at the Smithsonian Institute, the National Restaurant Association Show and conferences hosted by The Culinary Institute of America, Chefs Collaborative, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, the International Association of Culinary Professionals and as a visiting Emens Professor at Ball State University.  She has recently become a Food and Society Policy Fellow, a national program supported by the Kellogg Foundation, was awarded an honorary doctorate from SUNY Cobleskill for her work on Sustainable Agriculture and honored by SLOW Food USA for her advocacy work on upgrading school lunch for children across America.

Ann is past President of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, a former member of the Executive Committee of Chefs Collaborative, past President of The American Culinary Federation of Central Vermont, a past member of The Alumni Committee of the Culinary Institute of America, on the food quality advisory board of the New York City Office of School Food and Nutrition Services and has served as a member of the United States Department of Agriculture's National Organic Standards Board.

Ann is currently working as a consultant for the Chez Panisse Foundation in California and for FoodChange in New York – on both coasts, working to upgrade the quality of school food and working hard to change the way we feed America's children.

Gloria Stables, Ph.D., M.S., R.D.
Principal, GJS Associates

Gloria is a Registered Dietitian with twenty-five years of experience in nutritional science, disease prevention, risk communications, behavior change research and practice.  Recently, she started a consulting practice, and has worked with leaders in the food industry and community-based organizations

Between 1994 and 2001, Gloria was the National Director of the National Cancer Institutes's (NCI) 5 A Day for Better Health Program, the largest and most successful nationwide nutrition education public/private partnership campaign. Utilizing her outstanding scientific and interpersonal skills, she provided strategic direction for the multi-level partnership development between the federal government agencies (NCI, CDC, USDA), all 50 state health agencies, the Produce for Better Health Foundation, representing the entire fruit and vegetable industry (growers, shippers, commodity boards, trade associations, and supermarket retailers), and others, such as the American Cancer Society. As a media trained spokesperson, she represented the 5 A Day program in print, radio, and both local and national television, where she appeared on the Today Show and in Satellite Media Tours.  In addition, she was intimately involved with creative work for message development of the media campaign. 

Throughout her career, she has worked in cutting edge nutrition research and practice in a variety of health promotion activities.  She was the program director for the $20 million 5 A Day research initiative, which launched a new generation of community-based nutrition and behavior change research.  While a research dietitian with the National Institutes of Health, she coordinated the nutrition intervention activities of the Women's Health Trial feasibility study in minority populations, and was the nutrition educator in the Lipid Research Clinic during the first trials of the lipid-lowering statin drugs. She has convened and led national meetings, published in peer reviewed journals, developed educational materials, evaluated design of interventions, and provided skills development for professionals. Gloria received the prestigious President's Circle Award for Nutrition Education as part of the 5 A Day group, from the American Dietetic Association.

Currently, she is the President of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area Dietetic Association, and has held national level position in ADA and SNE.  Gloria holds a Masters Degree and PhD in Nutrition and Adult Learning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA.

 

Hope S. Hale, MS, RD, CD
Principal Nutrition Scientist
The Schwan Food Company, USA

Hope is a registered dietitian with over thirty years of experience in food service administration, sales and marketing. In 2004, Hope moved into a new position with The Schwan Food Company as Principal Nutrition Scientist where she is developing the health and wellness product strategy for the company.  

A native of Washington State Hope graduated from Eastern Washington University with a BS in Food and Nutrition. After completing an internship at Oregon Health Science University she returned to Spokane, Washington to manage Eastern Washington University's food service program. During her tenure she implemented a Student Manager Program, which today is used across the country in food service organizations. The Seattle Seahawk professional football team spent their first 10 years of Summer Training Camp at Hope's food service. She created a fine dining experience for the team and worked with the trainers on nutritional needs of the athletes. 

After completing a MS at Washington State University Hope became director of Holy Family Hospital in Spokane. She designed and opened Take Five Café where she was recognized by Restaurant and Instittution's magazine for increasing revenue by 50% with a marketing program designed to encourage guests to visit the hospital. 

Her work in sales and marketing broadened her knowledge of the particular food needs of customers and consumers. 

In her present position she works with product developers and marketing professionals to develop and manufacture products to meet the nutritional needs of children in schools and adults throughout the lifecycle. 

Hope has served on numerous boards in many positions including chair of the Washington Dietetic Association and chair of Dietitian's in Business and Communications, a practice group of The American Dietetic Association. She is the 2005 Alumni of the Year for Oregon Health Science University Dietetics program. A respected national speaker Hope has covered many topics including leadership, marketing, and food service administration. Most recently, Hope was requested to speak at International Food Technology (IFT) 2005 representing the Food Manufacturer's and their response to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 

Clare H. Miller, MS, RD
Senior Nutritionist, Child Nutrition Division
Food and Nutrition Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Clare is a registered dietitian with twenty-seven years of experience in the U.S. Child Nutrition Programs (National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program).  She has been with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) since 1999 where she currently serves as supervisor of a special unit of nutritionists which provides technical assistance and leadership in the development of nutrition policy and nutrition standards for school meals.  Clare’s unit is responsible for providing guidance and training to the State agencies that administer the programs at the local level.  She also services as lead for the HealthierUS School Challenge, a voluntary certification initiative for schools that adhere to USDA guidelines for all foods and beverages available in schools, and provide opportunities for nutrition education and physical activity.  Her unit is also responsible for administering Team Nutrition training grants to State agencies for providing training to school foodservice professionals and teachers.  Her most recent responsibility has been in the development of technical assistance and guidance for State agencies, and local educational agencies, in meeting a new law that requires all school districts participating in the school meals programs to have a local student wellness policy in effect by the beginning of school year 2006.

Previous to her work at USDA, Clare was a supervisor of the USDA school meals programs for the Louisiana Department of Education for eleven years and for ten years was the Foodservice Director of the USDA school meals programs for a local school district in Louisiana.

Caldwell picDorothy Caldwell, MS, RD, LDN
School Health Initiatives Coordinator
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

Dorothy Caldwell has directed school nutrition programs at the local, state and federal levels, provided leadership for state and national professional associations, received appointments as advisor to government agencies, private foundations, universities and industry, and written and spoken widely on child nutrition issues and obesity prevention.

As director of food and nutrition for the Lee County Arkansas School District, Dorothy turned a debt ridden operation into an exemplary nutrition program that had more than 90% school meal participation in all elementary and secondary schools.  A variety of reimbursable menus were provided and no a la carte items were sold.  She applied for and received a Nutrition Education and Training Program grant that help students learn to enjoy fruits and vegetables through classroom lessons and tastings coordinated with lunch menus.

As state director of child nutrition for the Arkansas Department of Education, she and her staff launched a school breakfast expansion initiative that brought scores of new schools into the program and resulted in state legislation phasing in school breakfast programs through out the state.

As special assistant for nutrition and nutrition education in the office of USDA's Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, Dorothy was an energetic presence among allied and government organizations, placing special emphasis on advancing partnerships in the education community. Her vision called attention to the rising obesity rates and led to the collaborative development and implementation of Changing the Scene, a tool kit widely used to bring about policy and environmental change at the local level.

As deputy administrator for Special Nutrition Programs, she oversaw13 of USDA's 15 food assistance programs, including the National School Lunch, School Breakfast and Summer Food Service Programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the WIC Program.  She focused attention on the health aspects of school nutrition programs by engaging medical associations in the development and dissemination of Prescription for Change:  Ten Keys to Promote Healthy Eating in Schools.

As vice president and president-elect of ASFSA (SNA), Dorothy was the Executive Team Leader for the Nutrition Integrity Initiative.  As president, she convened a Healthy Children Ready to Learn Consensus Conference of agriculture, health and education stakeholders, laying the groundwork for future collaborations.  She served on the American Dietetic Association's expert panel for the Child Nutrition and Health Campaign and received ADA's Medallion Award. She also served as a member of the speaker's bureau for the American Institute of Wine and Food's Resetting the American Table and the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Comprehensive School Health that produced the report Schools and Health:  Our Nation's Investment.  She was lead author for the School Nutrition chapter in Health is Academic, a book on Coordinated School Health, published by Teacher's College Press and the author of a chapter on Nutrition Integrity in Managing Child Nutrition Programs:  Leadership for Excellence.

Since moving to North Carolina in 2001, Caldwell coordinated a 100-member Healthy Weight Task Force and was the lead author of the task force report, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight: Finding the Will and the Way.  She also convened a consensus panel and led the writing team for Eat Smart:  North Carolina's Recommended Standards for all Foods Available in School.

Caldwell holds the BS degree in home economics from the University of Arkansas and the MS in food systems administration from the University of Tennessee.  She is a registered and licensed dietitian.  Her understanding of the field and the plate and her commitment to pleasurable eating began during childhood on an Eastern Arkansas farm where the growing, preparation and enjoyment of delicious, nutritious food was central to the culture of her family and community.