Kelly David Brownell (born October 31, 1951) is a

clinical psychologist Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

and scholar of public health and public policy at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

whose work focuses on

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

and

food policy Food policy is the area of public policy concerning how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased, or provided. Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system balanced with ensuring human health ...

. He is a former

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Duke's

Sanford School of Public Policy The Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University is named after former Duke president and Governor of North Carolina Terry Sanford, who established the university's Institute for Policy Sciences and Public Affairs in 1971 as an interdiscipli ...

. Noted for his research dealing primarily with obesity prevention, as well as the intersection of behavior, environment, and health with public policy, Brownell advised former

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

's initiatives to address childhood obesity and has testified before

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. He is credited with coining the term "

yo-yo dieting Weight cycling, also known as yo-yo dieting, is the repeated loss and gain of weight, resembling the up-down motion of a yo-yo. Many dieters are initially successful in the pursuit of weight loss but unsuccessful in maintaining the loss long-term ...

", and was named as one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People" by ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' in 2006.

Personal background

Brownell was born in 1951 and was raised in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. After receiving his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in psychology from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in 1973, he was awarded a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in Psychology from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 1977. His advisor was Oscar Krisen Buros Professor G. Terence Wilson.

Career

In 1977, Brownell became a member of the faculty at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

. He began as an assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry, was subsequently promoted to associate professor, and finally to full professor. During this period, he also served one year as a visiting scientist at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NHI)

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

(NCI). In 1991, he joined Yale University, where he held positions as the

James Rowland Angell James Rowland Angell (; May 8, 1869 – March 4, 1949) was an American psychologist and educator who served as the 16th President of Yale University between 1921 and 1937. His father, James Burrill Angell (1829–1916), was president of the Un ...

professor of psychology, professor of epidemiology and public health, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, chair of the department of psychology, and head of the undergraduate dormitory

Silliman College Silliman College is a residential college at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, named for scientist and Yale professor Benjamin Silliman. It opened in September 1940 as the last of the original ten residential colleges, and contains buil ...

. Brownell left Yale in 2013 to join Duke University as Dean of its Sanford School of Public Policy, in which role he continued until the end of the 2018 academic year. He holds academic appointments as the Robert L. Flowers Professor of Public Policy, Professor of Psychology and

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

, Director of the World Food Policy Center, and is a faculty affiliate of the Duke Global Health Institute. In 2017, backed by funding from the

Duke Endowment The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke. It supports selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare, and spiritual life in North Carolina and South C ...

William R. Kenan Jr. William Rand Kenan Jr. (April 30, 1872 – July 28, 1965) was an American chemist, engineer, manufacturer, dairy farmer, and philanthropist. Early life William Rand Kenan Jr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, on April 30, 1872., son of Willi ...

Charitable Trust, and

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBS, BCBSA) is a federation, or supraorganization, of, in 2022, 34 independent and locally operated BCBSA companies that provide health insurance in the United States to more than 106 million people. It was f ...

of North Carolina Foundation, Duke University announced the formation of its new World Food Policy Center (WFPC), based at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Brownell is the center's founder and director. To date, he has authored 15 books and more than 350 scientific articles, papers, and chapters. He has also contributed to

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

outlets. Brownell was previously president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine; Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy; and American Psychological Association, Division 38: Society for Health Psychology.

Impact

Brownell's 1986 paper, ''Understanding and Preventing Relapse'', published in ''American Psychologist'', was recognized at the time as one of the most frequently cited papers in psychology. Recognized for introducing the idea of food taxes as a means of improving public health in 1994, his work on

soda tax A sugary drink tax, soda tax, or sweetened beverage tax (SBT) is a tax or surcharge (food-related fiscal policy) designed to reduce consumption of sweetened beverages. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include carbonated soft drinks, spo ...

es has been used by cities, states, and countries seeking to implement them as a public policy tool and tax revenue strategy. In commentary for ''Time Magazine's'' "Time 100 of 2006", former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate

Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...

commented that Brownell had "helped set the U.S. agenda by calling for a ban on sweetened-cereal ads aimed at kids and a tax on high-fat, low-nutrition food." Brownell has also influenced popular culture. In addition to having coined the term "yo-yo dieting", he is also credited with introducing the phrase "

toxic food environment A food environment is the "physical presence of food that affects a person’s diet, a person’s proximity to food store locations, the distribution of food stores, food service, and any physical entity by which food may be obtained, or a connect ...

" in his 2004 book, '' Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry''. A frequent radio and television guest, he is the host of the ''Policy 360'' podcast, and has appeared in a variety of feature films and documentaries: * ''

Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's f ...

'', feature film, 2004 * ''Big Mac: Inside the McDonald's Empire'', television documentary, 2007 * ''Killer at Large'', documentary, 2008 * '' The Weight of the Nation'',

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

documentary, 2012 * '' Fed Up'', feature film, 2014 * ''Sustainable'', feature film, 2016

Awards and honors

* Distinguished Alumni Award, Purdue University, 2001 * Elected member,

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

, 2005 * Elected member,

Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering is a non-profit institution patterned after the National Academy of Sciences to identify and study issues and technological advancements that are or should be of concern to the state of Connecticut ...

, 2006 * Research to Practice Dissemination Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2007 * Graduate School Award for a Lifetime of Distinguished Accomplishments and Service, Rutgers University, 2008 * Person of the Year, ''

New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and i ...

'', 2009 * Graduate Mentor Award, Social Sciences, Yale University, 2010 * Atkinson-Stern Award for Distinguished Public Service,

The Obesity Society The Obesity Society is a scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity and its treatment. It was founded in 1982 and has approximately 2,500 members. The official scientific journal of the society is ''Obesity'', which is available in print ...

, 2010 * Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2012 * Lifetime Achievement Award, American Psychological Association, 2012 * The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, Highly Cited Researchers, Thomson Reuters, 2014, 2015 * David P. Rall Award for Public Health Advocacy, American Public Health Association, 2014 *

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

Award,

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

, 2017 The Sanford School of Public Policy's Brownell-Whetten Diversity and Inclusion Award was established in 2016 to recognize the work of Brownell and fellow professor, Kate Whetten.

Selected works

* ''Behavioral Medicine and Women: A Comprehensive Handbook'', * ''Eating, Body Weight, and Performance in Athletes: Disorders of Modern Society'' * ''Eating Disorders and Obesity, Third Edition: A Comprehensive Handbook'', * ''Food and Addition: A Comprehensive Handbook'', * ''Handbook of Eating Disorders: Psychology, Physiology, And Treatment'', * ''Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies'',

External links

World Food Policy Center''Policy 360'' podcast, Sanford School of Public Policy
*
''Sustainable'' feature film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownell, Kelly D. 1951 births Living people 21st-century American psychologists Yale University faculty People from Indiana Members of the National Academy of Medicine Duke University faculty People from Durham, North Carolina Rutgers University alumni Brown University alumni Purdue University alumni Obesity Public health Health policy 20th-century American psychologists