Rebecca Davids MSc, RD is a Project Director with the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities Group at the UCLA School of Public Health. She is responsible for conducting a three-year evaluation of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Nutrition Network.  Ms. Davids earned her Bachelors of Applied Science and Masters of Science degree from the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and is a Registered Dietitian.  Prior to joining UCLA, Ms. Davids worked in public health where she was involved in developing and implementing community-based chronic disease prevention programs.  Ms. Davids chaired a national committee which helped guide federal nutrition labeling standards.  Her interests include health and nutrition policy and chronic disease prevention.

Sonia A. Kim, Ph.D., is the School Liaison for the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities Worksite Wellness Study.  She is responsible for assisting eight intervention elementary schools in the development of environmental, nutrition and physical activity staff wellness programs.  Dr. Kim received her Ph.D. in Nutrition Health Sciences at Emory University, in Atlanta, and her B.S. in Biochemistry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Prior to attending Emory University, Dr. Kim worked at the North Carolina Department of Public Health, where she coordinated the planning of the Tri-State Stroke Summit and prepared the Summit Proceedings.  Her interests include health promotion and marketing, the translation of research into programs and policy, obesity prevention, and international health and economic development.

Linda Lange

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Dr. Linda Lange completed her doctorate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles after working for more than a decade in maternal and child health nursing. Currently, Dr. Lange is Research Coordinator for the MCHB-funded Interdisciplinary MCH Leadership Training Program and Associate Director of the Nutrition Promotion and Obesity Prevention Program at the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. She served as Chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee from 2000-2002. Dr. Lange co-chaired the 1998 National Breastfeeding Policy Conference. Dr. Lange co-authored a report for the Los Angeles County Children and Families First Proposition 10 Commission on breastfeeding programs, services and support systems in Los Angeles County. Dr. Lange’s publications include: Lu, MC, Lange, L, Slusser, W, Hamilton, J, Halfon,N. Feb 2001. "Provider Encouragement of Breast-feeding: Evidence from a National Survey". Obstetrics and Gynecology; 97(2): 290-295; Slusser, WM. Lange, L. Breastfeeding in the United States Today: Are Families Prepared? In N Halfon, KT Mc Learn, MA Schuster (Eds.), Child Rearing in America: The Condition of Families with Young Children. Cambridge University Press 2002; Cohen R, Lange L, and Slusser W. A Description of a Male-Focused Breastfeeding Promotion Corporate Lactation Program. Journal of Human Lactation February 2002, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 61-65(5); Whaley, S. E., Meehan, K., Lange, L, Slusser, W & Jenks, E. September 2002. Predictors of breastfeeding duration for employees of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Journal of the American Dietetics Association, vol102 (9), pp1290-1293.

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Charlotte Neumann, MD

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Dr. Charlotte G. Neumann (Principal Investigator) is a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Schools of Medicine and Public Health.  Dr. Neumann is a pediatrician with a Masters degree in Public Health.  She has extensive experience related to childhood obesity projects in the United States and with malnutrition in school children in developing countries.  From 1981-1987, she was Director of the Pediatric Obesity Clinic at the UCLA Hospital.  She has worked in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District for over ten years collecting anthropometric data for the Health Champions evaluation study.  She has been Principal Investigator on a number of studies related to childhood nutrition including:  Factors Affecting School Performance and Participation of Kenyan Children; Hunger, Malnutrition and Decreased Food Intake Among L.A. School Children: Pilot Study; Hunger and Malnutrition Among Lower Socioeconomic Children in Los Angeles Elementary Schools; and Intervention Program to Prevent Obesity Among Elementary School Children in Los Angeles.  She is currently Principal Investigator of the LAUSD Nutrition Network Evaluation Project and The Role of Animal Source Foods in Child Growth and Development in Rural Kenyan Schoolchildren.   Additionally, she is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force on Community Preventive Services: Nutrition and Health of the US Population, which provides recommendations based on interventions to promote health and prevent disease. 

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Michael Prelip, Ph.D.

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Mike Prelip is currently an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health.  He is responsible for supervising the field component of the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree.  Additionally he teaches courses in community based program planning, research and evaluation; fund development; community organization; and leadership and empowerment.  He is currently involved in a number of research projects, which are all community based public health focused, using a community participatory model.  He also works on several communication projects focusing on a number of health topics, including fetal alcohol syndrome prevention and immunizations.  He is lead faculty for the Pacific Public Health Training Center. Prior to coming to UCLA, Dr. Prelip worked 15 years in community based non profit organizations.  During this time he was actively involved in grant development, program planning and evaluation.  He developed both community and clinic based projects focusing on reproductive health, substance use prevention, primary care, TB treatment and immunizations.  He continues to have a strong interest in working with community based organizations.

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Judith Siegel, Ph.D.

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Wendy Slusser, MD, MS

Wendy Slusser, MD, MS is Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at University of California, Los Angeles, Director of the UCLA Breastfeeding Resource Program and Co- director of the Community Health and Advocacy Pediatric Residency Training Program. Dr. Slusser graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University and received her Masters Degree in Science from the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University and her Medical Degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at Babies Hospital, Columbia University Medical School. Dr. Slusser joined the UCLA faculty in 1995 and over the past 8 years has been involved in community, school, and family based policy and program evaluation research. Her research has focused on infant and child nutrition. She is currently the Principal Investigator of an evaluation of the CIGNA Corporations national program called "Working Well Mom," the Co-Principal Investigator for the evaluation of the Nutrition Network Los Angeles Unified School District Project, and the co-investigator on the development of a Nutrition Friendly School criteria. Her leadership positions have included the conception and implementation of the National Breastfeeding Policy Conference that pulled together over 100 national leaders from different sectors and formulated a series of breastfeeding policy recommendations. This policy conference triggered the preparation of the Surgeon General’s "HHS Blue Print for Action on Breastfeeding, " and provided the framework for the US National Breastfeeding Committee’s Strategic Plan. Dr. Slusser is also providing technical assistance at a local level to LAUSD and at a National level to USDA and National Cancer Institute regarding increasing the fruit and vegetable consumption among children in the United States. Dr. Slusser is interviewed frequently by the Los Angeles Times and other news media on Pediatric and infant nutrition stories. Dr. Slusser is Board Certified in Pediatrics, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and practices General Pediatrics at the Venice Family Clinic.

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Stephanie Vecchiarelli, EdD, MPH

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Stephanie Vecchiarelli, EdD, MPH is a Project Director with the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities group at the UCLA School of Public Health. Currently, her projects include the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities Process Pilot Study and the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities Worksite Wellness Study. She received her Doctorate of Education from the University of California Los Angeles.  Additionally, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Family Relations and Human Development from The Ohio State University , a Masters in Public Health from the University of California Los Angeles, and a teaching credential from the University of Texas. She has served as  proposal reviewer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Education and as a reviewer for the American Journal of Public Health.   Prior to joining the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities team, Dr. Vecchiarelli was an elementary school teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. She is an alumnus of Teach for America, a highly selective national teaching corps. Her interests include school health, adolescent reproductive health, HIV/STD prevention, and education.

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