Jerome D. Williams, Ph.D.

Jerome Williams, Ph.D., is the F.J. Heyne Centennial Professor in Communication in the Department of Advertising at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). He also holds a joint appointment in the Center for African and African American Studies.

Prior to joining the faculty at UT Austin, Dr. Williams was a faculty member in the Marketing Department at Howard University's School of Business, where he was also Director of the Center for Marketplace Diversity. Prior to his appointment at Howard, he was a member of the Penn State University marketing department faculty, and has had national and international visiting appointments in leading business schools.

Dr. Williams research interests include the business-to-business and consumer marketing domains, with a particular focus on ethnic minority marketing. He has testified in a variety of court cases, on consumer response to advertising strategies. He has published extensively in the area of multicultural marketing and consumer psychology. He also is co-editor of Diversity in Advertising: Broadening the Scope of Research Directions, and co-author of a forth-coming book on consumer racial profiling.

Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in Business Administration/Marketing, with a minor in Social Psychology. He also has an M.S. from Union College in Industrial Administration and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in English.

Alice Waters

Alice Waters, chef, author, and proprietor of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, pioneered a culinary philosophy based on using only the freshest organic products, picked in season. Over the course of three decades, Chez Panisse has developed a network of local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of pure, fresh ingredients.

Ms. Waters' commitment to education led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre garden and adjacent kitchen classroom at Berkeley's Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School. The Edible Schoolyard is a model public education program, which actively involves students in all aspects of the food cycle, giving them the knowledge and values they need to build a humane and sustainable future. The program is nationally recognized for its efforts to integrate gardening, cooking and the sharing of a daily school lunch into the core academic curriculum.

She founded the Chez Panisse Foundation in 1996 to support the Schoolyard and similar pro grams that use food traditions to teach, nurture, and empower young people. The success of The Edible Schoolyard led to the landmark agreement between the Chez Panisse Foundation and The Berkeley Unified School District to integrate a nutritious daily lunch into the core classroom curriculum for all students, kindergarten through 12th grade. In addition, she has helped to conceive The Yale Sustainable Food Project, a food service program that brings fresh, organic, and seasonal menus to the Berkeley College dining hall, while supporting local farmers.

Waters is Vice President of Slow Food International, a non-profit organization that promotes and celebrates local, artisan food traditions with members in over 100 countries. She is the author of eight books, the latest of which, Chez Panisse Fruit, was published by HarperCollins in 2002.

Jennifer Seymour, Ph.D.

Jennifer Seymour, Ph.D., has been an Epidemiologist in the Chronic Disease Nutrition Branch of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 2002 and has been at CDC since 2001. Dr. Seymour received her Ph.D. in Nutrition and Health Sciences from the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Emory University in 2000. She completed her dissertation while working at the National Home Office of the American Cancer Society in the Epidemiology and Surveillance Research Department (1997-2000). She has a B.A. in Anthropology from Rutgers University. Her research has focused on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and weight management, environmental and policy interventions to promote nutrition, and energy density. Dr. Seymour was an Independent Scientific Reviewer for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 and she provided technical assistance and scientific review to United States Department of Agriculture on the new food guidance system.

Plenary Panel:
The Nation's Agenda for Obesity Prevention and Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Loel S. Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.P.

Loel Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.P., joined Kaiser Permanente's Community Benefit Program in 2003 as the National Director of Community Health Initiatives and Evaluation. In that position, Dr. Solomon is responsible for the design, implementation, and evaluation of a national effort to improve population-level health outcomes in Kaiser Permanente communities through multi-sectoral, place-based efforts focusing on environmental and policy change.

Prior to coming to Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Solomon served as Deputy Director of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development for Healthcare Quality and Analysis, where he oversaw hospital outcomes reporting, analyses of racial and ethnic health disparities. Dr. Solomon was also a senior manager at Lewin Group, where he helped design and facilitate community health initiatives sponsored by United Auto Workers and the automobile industry, conducted assessments of local safety net systems. Dr. Solomon's policy experience includes service on U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy's health staff and Former President Bill Clinton's Task Force on National Healthcare Reform.

Dr. Solomon received his Ph.D. in Health Policy from Harvard University and an M.P.P. (Master of Public Policy) at University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of several journal articles and a book chapter.

George R. Flores, M.D., M.P.H.

George R. Flores, M.D., M.P.H., is a Senior Program Officer with The California Endowment, one of the nation's largest health foundations. Dr. Flores works in the Health Disparities strategic program focusing on programs, policies, and systems change to improve community health. He guides the Endowment's "Healthy Eating, Active Communities" initiative to prevent childhood obesity. Dr. Flores is a member of the Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth, the Institute of Medicine committee that recently published, "Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in The Balance."

Previously, he served as: Health Officer and Director of Public Health in San Diego County and in Sonoma County; Clinical Assistant Professor for the UCSF/Sutter Family Practice Residency Program; Director, Project HOPE in Guatemala; and Deputy Health Officer in Santa Barbara County. Dr. Flores is also a member of the Institute of Medicine committee that published, "The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century." Dr. Flores has held leadership positions in local, state, and national organizations, including the National Association of County and City Health Officials, California Conference of Local Health Officers, Sonoma County Medical Association, and the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, a leading voice for Latino health policy.

Dr. Flores is an alumnus of the University of Utah College of Medicine, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Public Health Leadership Institute.

For more information on the California Nutrition Network programs, visit www.ca5aday.com.