Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH

Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, is George A. Weiss University Professor, Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and the School of Nursing, and Director of the UPenn Prevention Research Center, at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an affiliate professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at PSOM, and also is Program Co-Leader for the Cancer Control Program, at the Abramson Cancer Center at UPenn.

Her research in community and healthcare settings focuses on obesity, nutrition, and the built environment; reducing health disparities; theories of health behavior; and cancer prevention and control. She has published over 550 articles and chapters, and is lead Editor on six editions of the widely used text, Health Behavior: Theory, Research and Practice (Jossey-Bass/Wiley: 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2015, 2024). Her research and publications about understanding, measuring and improving healthy food environments, beginning in the 1980’s, have been widely recognized and replicated.

Glanz served on the NHLBI Advisory Council from 2017-2021 and served on the US Task Force on Community Preventive Services for 10 years. Dr. Glanz was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. She has an H-index of 115 and was designated a Highly Cited Author by ISIHighlyCited.com, in the top 0.5% of authors in her field over a 20-year period, from 2006 to the present. She was designated as one of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2015 by Thomson Reuters.

Additional Appointments and Affiliations

• George A. Weiss University Professor, Professor of Epidemiology and Nursing [tenured],
  Perelman School of Medicine and School of Nursing (PSOM), University of Pennsylvania,
  Philadelphia, PA
• Professor, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, PSOM, University of Pennsylvania, 2023-present
• Program Co-Leader, Cancer Control Program, Abramson Cancer Center, 2018-present
• Senior Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB)
• Member, Grad Group in Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Director of Research (2013-2016) and Senior Fellow (2009-present), Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI)
• Member (2010-present) and Core Director, ROAR (Recruitment, Outcomes, Assessment & Retention (2013-2016), Abramson Cancer Center (ACC)
• Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI)
• Distinguished Fellow, Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC)
• Senior Fellow (inaugural cohort), Penn Implementation Science Center, 2024-2025
• Faculty Fellow, Penn Institute for Urban Research (IUR)
• Member, Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (IDOM) and Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center (DERC)
• Affiliated Faculty, Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE)
• Member, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT)
• Member, Skin Diseases Research Core, U Penn Skin Diseases Research Core Center
• Member, Center for Health Equity Research, U Penn School of Nursing
• Member, Health and Behavior Research Affinity Group (HB-RAG), CHOP Research Institute (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)

Links

• UPenn Prevention Research Center (UPenn PRC)
• Community Engagement and Research Core (CEAR Core)
• Nutritional Environment Measures Survey (NEMS)