Western Kentucky University
Department of Public Health
1906 College Heights Boulevard
Bowling Green
KYUSA
42101
Biographical Sketch: After working as a public health practitioner in the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Marilyn Gardner earned her Ph.D. in Health Behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Ryal's School of Public Health. In keeping with her practitioner roots, much of Dr. Gardner's research and service centers around bridging the gap between academia and public health practice through community-based participatory research. She has been the principal or co-investigator on several federally and state-funded studies related to childhood obesity and health literacy, and is currently the Principle Investigator on a grant funded by the Institutes of Medicine to influence menu choices of adolescents through food marketing practices and incentive strategies. Dr. Gardner research interests include behavioral change theory, evaluation, and health literacy.