Biography

Rebecca Hasson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Schools of Kinesiology and Public Health and Director of the Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on identifying the causes and consequences of pediatric obesity and more specifically examining the social and behavioral determinants that contribute to ethnic differences in obesity-related disease risk. Using a transdisciplinary research approach, Dr. Hasson integrates her previous training in exercise physiology, energy metabolism, pediatric endocrinology, health disparities, and social epidemiology to: (1) quantify ethnic differences in obesity-related disease risk; (2) identify social-contextual factors that contribute to these ethnic differences; and (3) develop novel intervention strategies in an effort to eliminate these differences and improve metabolic health outcomes in pediatric populations. Dr. Hasson received her Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After graduating, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Southern California’s Childhood Obesity Research Center and a second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco’s Center on Social Disparities in Health as a W.H. Kellogg Health Scholar. Throughout her academic career, Dr. Hasson has been extensively involved with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and American Public Health Association affiliate organizations. She serves on ACSM’s Exercise is Medicine Committee on Underserved Populations and Strategic Health Initiative on Health Equity and Diversity Ad hoc Committee. She is also a Past President of the Society for the Analysis of African-American Public Health Issues.