Marlene Schwartz

Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University

Dr. Marlene Schwartz serves as Deputy Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. She received her B.A. from Haverford College and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. Schwartz completed her clinical internship at the Yale Medical School and post-doctoral training in the Yale Department of Psychology. Prior to joining the Rudd Center, she served as Co-Director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders from 1996 to 2006. Schwartz's research is focused on how home environments, communities, and school landscapes shape the eating attitudes and behaviors of children. She frequently collaborates on state projects with the Connecticut State Department of Education, including a large research studies funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research Program. Schwartz was also the recipient of a transition grant from Robert Wood Johnson in 2008 to create a website based on the school wellness policy coding system that she developed with national colleagues. Her other areas of research include studies on the effect of food marketing directed at children, and how the WIC program changes the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods.