About

Shiriki K. Kumanyika, Ph.D, M.P.H., is an emeritus professor of epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She holds an interdisciplinary background with advanced degrees in social work, nutrition, and public health. During her tenure at Penn Medicine, she served as the Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, held a secondary appointment as Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Pediatrics (Division of Gastroenterology, Nutrition Section), and was affiliated with numerous Penn institutes and centers. She was the Founding Director of Penn's interdisciplinary, multi-school Master of Public Health program. Her research focuses on identifying effective strategies to reduce nutrition-related chronic disease risks, with a particular emphasis on achieving health equity for black Americans. Dr. Kumanyika founded the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN) in 2002, which she led until 2018 when it rebranded as the Council on Black Health. She has served as Vice-Chair of the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Healthy People 2020 objectives, is a past president of the American Public Health Association, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, where she is the current chair of the Food and Nutrition Board. Additionally, she is a nutrition advisor to the World Health Organization and the World Cancer Research Fund, and chairs the Expert Group for the Access to Nutrition Initiative.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Advertising
• Engineering
• Gerontology
• Business
• Internal medicine
• Marketing
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Pediatrics

Selected publications

• Identifying Synergistic Mechanisms of Community-Led Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change for Childhood Obesity Prevention in the Multi-Site Catalyzing Communities Initiative

  Journal of Urban Health · 2026-01-07

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This evaluation reports how the Catalyzing Communities Initiative, a whole-of-community, multi-site intervention, supported equity-focused policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes to prevent childhood obesity in three U.S. communities from 2023 to 2024. We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation using survey data from 35 committee members (multisector representatives selected by local health-promotion leaders) and interviews with 29 committee members across three communities. We used a three-framework analytic approach: the Getting to Equity Framework was used to classify PSE changes, the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research guided analysis of contextual influences, and Ripple Effects Mapping, a systems science method, identified how PSE-related actions created chains of perceived impacts over time. Committee members reported a total of 339 PSE impacts, defined as perceived changes attributed to specific PSE-related actions, such as shifts in partnerships, practices, or community conditions. The majority of impacts fell within Getting to Equity Quadrants 4 (increasing community capacity and opportunity) and 1 (increasing healthy options). Systems thinking tools that were used by committee members as part of the Catalyzing Communities Initiative were noted to enhance cross-sector coordination. Ripple effect maps revealed reinforcing loops, such as systems-informed community action and community mobilization, that enhanced cross-sector collaboration and contributed to synergistic change. Implementation facilitators of change included strong leadership and supportive policy environments, while key barriers included affordability, stigma, and exposure to community violence. Findings illustrate how integrating equity frameworks, implementation science, and Ripple Effects Mapping can reveal mechanisms through which local actions promote equity-oriented change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Building capacity and equity in implementation science: evaluation of a national mentored training program

  Implementation Science · 2025-08-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: As implementation science evolves, it is essential to expand training capacity to build intellectual capital continually. The demand for training in implementation science far outstrips the current supply. This paper presents the methods and findings from the Institute for Implementation Science Scholars (IS-2) national training program (2020-2024). METHODS: The IS-2 was a US-based, two-year training program that provided mentored training for early- and mid-career researchers interested in applying implementation science principles to reduce the burden of chronic disease disparities. Scholars attended two annual, 2.5-day intensive training sessions, received ongoing remote and in-person mentoring, and were supported by other activities (e.g., pilot funding, networking events, mock grant reviews). A quasi-experimental (pre/post) design evaluated IS-2 on skill building, mentoring, and networking. We used descriptive and inferential statistics to characterize the sample and analyzed primary outcomes and networks. RESULTS: A majority of the 59 scholars were female (86%), white (61%), and assistant professors (61%). Forty-three implementation science competencies were assessed; all skill categories increased from baseline to 10 months and from 10 to 22 months post-enrollment. The relative change was largest for advanced competencies. Scholars rated their assigned mentors as highly competent across all mentoring competencies. A vibrant mentoring network was established, with the highest number of network ties in 2023, facilitating manuscript publication and joint research. Under-represented scholars (n = 21) had similar skill gains relative to scholars not-under represented, yet were less likely to hold network ties in 2024. After accounting for other predictors, sharing a mentoring relationship within the previous two years was a strong positive predictor of forming collaboration ties between network members in 2024 (odds ratio = 9.66; 95% confidence interval = 6.34-14.74). IS-2 showed multiple impacts of practice and societal relevance (e.g., improving intervention reach, building cost data in patient decision aids). CONCLUSIONS: The approaches used in IS-2 effectively helped mentees gain skills in implementation science, experience mentorship for career development, and establish collaborative networks. The results demonstrate how the field can develop and utilize a mentoring program to reach diverse scholars, incorporate equity into curricula, and conduct high-quality mentoring to address critical implementation science topics.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Advancing Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Research to Reverse Upward Trends in Obesity Prevalence—A New Call to Action

  American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2025-10-28

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Toward Health Equity: A Workshop Report on the State of the Science of Obesity Interventions for Adults

  Obesity · 2025-09-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: From October 18 to 20, 2022, the National Institutes of Health held a workshop to examine the state of the science concerning obesity interventions in adults to promote health equity. The workshop had three objectives: (1) convene experts from key institutions and the community to identify gaps in knowledge and opportunities to address obesity, (2) generate recommendations for obesity prevention and treatment to achieve health equity, and (3) identify challenges and needs to address obesity prevalence and disparities and develop a diverse workforce. METHODS: A three-day virtual convening. RESULTS: Several key themes emerged from the workshop discussions that describe directions to build on the currently limited amount of research on obesity, disparities, and equity. Key themes centered on the determinants of health, leveraging technology, clinical, community, commercial, and policy approaches. Community-engaged work, particularly in populations that have received little focus (e.g., sexual gender minorities, Asian communities), was also discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Future research may be impactful when multilevel approaches are undertaken that leverage equity-minded tools and can be scaled up to meet community-informed population needs in a variety of settings. Funding priorities and workforce development will be critical to realizing health equity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Using implementation mapping to optimize the impact of Universal School meals: a type III hybrid implementation-effectiveness study protocol

  Implementation Science Communications · 2025-10-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Provision of government subsidized school meals at no charge to all students in income-eligible schools (Universal School Meals) is a critical policy approach to address food insecurity and risk for obesity in school-aged children. However, despite documented benefits, implementation challenges remain, which limit the uptake and associated impact of this provision. To ensure the longevity of this policy approach, equity-focused solutions that center the needs of those tasked with implementation and the most vulnerable Universal School Meals recipients are necessary. The aims of this study are to develop equity-focused implementation strategies and test them through a hybrid type III cluster-randomized trial to examine potential effectiveness on improving student uptake and implementation across the school system. METHODS: Aim 1 will comprise the first tasks of Implementation Mapping to co-develop implementation strategies in partnership with school implementers and recipients to ensure contextual fit within their school system. Aim 2 will comprise the final step of implementation mapping with a hybrid type III implementation-effectiveness trial to examine primary implementation and effectiveness outcomes of the applied strategies. Reach and penetration will be the primary implementation outcomes in addition to acceptability, feasibility, cost, and sustainability. Health outcomes comprise family food security, student dietary behaviors, and body mass index. Baseline, 6-month, and 12-month assessments will be recorded. A convergent (Quantitative-Qualitative) mixed methods design will be employed for analysis; exploratory hierarchical multiple regression models will be run for each behavioral outcome using students as the unit of observation and schools as the unit of analysis. Survey and interview data for implementation outcomes will be analyzed deductively according to the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment and Getting to Equity frameworks then inductively to generate overarching themes across the trial period. DISCUSSION: This implementation mapping process will yield equity-driven strategies, which can be successfully implemented in school settings to improve uptake of USM and reduce food insecurity and obesity-related disparities in high-risk youth. This study presents a rigorous and equity-driven implementation research agenda with the potential to advance school-based obesity prevention efforts by identifying, developing, and evaluating context-specific strategies that meet the needs of vulnerable student populations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT06579079, Registered on 11-5-2024.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Using system dynamics mapping to explore synergy in an equity-focused obesity prevention framework

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2025-02-20 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Introduction: Addressing health inequities across chronic diseases is a critical public health objective, and policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change approaches are integral to achieving this goal. However, assumptions about mechanisms of effect or population salience of PSE approaches do not necessarily generalize to inequitable social and economic contexts, partially due to limited ability to operationalize the dynamic complexity of such contexts. Systems thinking applications have the potential to characterize this complexity and improve understanding of where and how to intervene. Methods: The Getting to Equity in Obesity Prevention Framework (GTE) posits a theory of change involving PSE-related considerations for achieving equity grouped into four categories with a general systems feedback structure. We used systems mapping with a case study to explore the anticipated synergy across categories of the GTE. Data were extracted from a narrative account of childhood obesity prevention initiatives in a predominantly African American and Hispanic, urban public-school district: the Philadelphia Childhood Obesity Declines Project. Project documentation described PSE strategies and contextual influences thought to have contributed to concurrently observed declines in child obesity prevalence and disparities in this population. Results: Our final dynamic framework, which was anchored by Philadelphia's Universal Feeding Pilot for school meals, identified synergies among intervention strategies. The systems map revealed how planned and unplanned processes accumulated to align with the observed disparities reductions in the participating school district, consistent with the GTE theory of change. Community context dynamics, which evolved over time, were prominent features of the map. Discussion: This case study enhances the utility of the GTE framework when paired with systems mapping enabled by detailed documentation of PSE initiatives and relevant contextual influences. This suggests that prospective mapping of considerations prompted by the GTE could improve anticipation of unplanned pathways, intervention design, and implementation and supports a need for greater priority for using systems mapping or other systems science tools and methodologies in obesity-prevention research and practice.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Systems science methods reveal and address links between discrimination and health disparities in US food systems

  Nature Food · 2025-09-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Moderating Effect of Coping on Stress and Childhood Obesity-Related Health Behaviors among Non-Hispanic Black Caregivers

  Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · 2025-04-02

  articleOpen access

  Child health behaviors and weight status may be affected by caregivers' perception and experience of stress. However, little is known about the influence of caregiver coping strategies on childhood overweight and obesity, particularly among non-Hispanic Black caregivers. This study examined associations among specific caregiver stress types (i.e., general, parenting, race-related), child weight status, and health-related behaviors (i.e., intake of fruits and vegetables, consumption of fast food, engagement in physical activity) as well as the moderating effect of caregiver coping strategies. In addition to general coping, the study examined the role of religious coping. This cross-sectional study included 157 non-Hispanic Black caregiver and child (aged 3-7 years) dyads; all caregivers identified as Christian Protestant. Logistic regression models were fit to explore the associations among caregiver stress and child outcomes and to investigate moderation effects of caregiver coping. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic covariates. Association between parenting stress and child weight status was significantly moderated by acceptance coping while the relationship between general stress and child sugary drink intake was moderated by emotional coping. The combination of three stress types was significantly associated with increased child fast food intake. Future research should examine specific coping strategies to address varying levels and types of stress experienced by caregivers from minoritized backgrounds.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluating Operation Good Food & Beverages, a Black Youth-Driven Public Advocacy Campaign

  Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · 2024-09-03 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Food and beverage (F&B) marketing practices that contradict health guidelines are particularly concerning for children and adolescents, who are developmentally more susceptible than adults to persuasive advertising and to Black communities, due to ethnically-targeted marketing, contributing to higher rates of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases. Accordingly, here we evaluated Operation Good Food and Beverages (OGF&B), an online social marketing campaign calling for shifting toward more marketing of healthier F&B to Black youth and Black communities. METHODS: OGF&B was developed and implemented by a multidisciplinary team of academic, advocacy, and advertising partners and active for four months in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary campaign components were social media content (e.g., TikTok, Instagram), and an informational website with a signable petition and a social media toolkit. Our mixed-methods evaluation used qualitative data to contextualize quantitative metrics like online impressions, website visits, and petition signatures. Qualitative data consisted of analysis of social media content and thematic elements from 15 interviews with campaign advisors, youth consultants, and influencers. RESULTS: The campaign achieved 3,148,869 impressions, 3,799 unique website visits, and 1,077 petition signatures. Instagram Reels and content featuring people had higher engagement. Instagram Reels received more likes than static posts or TikTok videos. Interviewees who participated mentioned personal values and community welfare as key motivations. Social media influencers who declined participation noted time constraints and lack of compensation as barriers. CONCLUSION: Despite pandemic-related restrictions that precluded in-person engagement, this brief campaign implementation period provided useful insights for leveraging OGF&B or similar campaigns.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Black American Nutrition Scholar and Advocate: My Journey

  Annual Review of Nutrition · 2024-04-11

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  I started my journey as a nutrition scholar in 1974 when I began PhD studies at Cornell University. My journey has been rich with opportunity. I engaged in research on diet-related risks for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer, partly motivated by my strong commitment to addressing health disparities affecting Black Americans. Obesity became my major focus and would eventually involve both US and global lenses. This focus was also linked to other dietary intake issues and health disparities and drew on knowledge I had gained in my prior study and practice of social work. I positioned myself as a bridge builder across nutrition, epidemiology, and public health, advocating for certain new ways of thinking and acting in these spheres and in the academy itself. Life skills honed during my formative years living within racially segregated contexts have been critical to any successes I have achieved.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HL065134

  NIH · $613k · 2003

• NIH Grant R21DK089422

  NIH · $398k · 2014

• NIH Grant R01HL046778

  NIH · $2.5M · 1996

• NIH Grant R03CA070608

  NIH · $150k · 1998

• Enrichment Program

  NIH · $21.9M · 2011–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Boyd Swinburn

  University of Auckland

  41 shared

• Sonya A. Grier

  36 shared

• Tim Lobstein

  World Obesity Federation

  28 shared

• Wendy Snowdon

  Deakin University

  27 shared

• Mike Rayner

  26 shared

• Katherine Isselmann DiSantis

  Thomas Jefferson University

  26 shared

• Bruce Neal

  The George Institute for Global Health

  25 shared

• Nicolas Stettler

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  25 shared

Awards & honors

• Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
• Chair of the NAM Food and Nutrition Board
• Founding Director of Penn's interdisciplinary, multi-school…
• Vice-Chair of the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heal…
• Past president of the American Public Health Association