Associate Professor
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Cara B. Ebbeling, PhD, MS is a clinical researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of nutrition, kinesiology, and behavior change counseling. Dr. Ebbeling is passionate about developing, implementing, and evaluating intensive interventions for preventing and treating obesity and related co-morbidities in clinic and community settings. She is recognized internationally for her expertise in conducting randomized controlled trials to compare the effects of dietary interventions on anthropometric and metabolic outcomes and has published her work in medical and nutrition journals – including JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. She is leading implementation of a Community-Based Integrated Model for Weight Management that involves healthcare (primary care, nutrition, behavioral health), community organizations (food assistance, physical activity), family home, and care coordination (medical home, specialty clinics). Dr. Ebbeling has given scores of invited presentations at national and international professional meetings – and has testified at the Massachusetts State House on topics related to her research. In addition, she enjoys training fellows, medical students, and graduate students on methods for implementing dietary interventions and a wide range of clinical research methodologies, with particular focus on strategies to ensure treatment fidelity and scientific integrity. Dr. Ebbeling is an associate editor for Contemporary Clinical Trials, and a fellow of The Obesity Society and the American College of Sports Medicine. She also served on the Science Board for the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.