Fit Blue Investigators

Robert C. Klesges, Ph.D.

Robert C. Klesges, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Robert C. Klesges is a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and is a Member in the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH). His primary research emphasis is in health promotion and disease prevention in military populations. His current research includes a smoking cessation dissemination trial in the U.S. military, determining the prevalence of new and emerging tobacco products in the military, a study trying to prevent smoking relapse following the protracted tobacco ban in basic military training and the current Fit Blue study. At SJCRH, Dr. Klesges has focused on smoking cessation in cancer survivors. This projects focuses on a tobacco quit line for both child and adult cancer survivors.

Gerald Wayne Talcott, Ph.D., ABPP,
Col USAF (ret)

Gerald Wayne Talcott, Ph.D., ABPP, Col USAF (ret)

Co-Investigator
Associate Professor and Director of Military Research
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Dr. Gerald Wayne Talcott, Associate Professor, is a clinical health psychologist in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Talcott served as an Air Force psychologist for 28 years and during that time published in a variety of areas including, the behavioral treatment of chronic pain, temporomandibular disorder, and headache and research addressing health risk behaviors including substance abuse, suicide prevention, weight reduction and tobacco cessation. He is currently a Co-PI and serves as the on-site director of four large research efforts currently being conducted with the Air Force. These projects include preventing relapse following involuntary smoking abstinence, identifying predictors of smokeless tobacco and dual use, assessing the efficacy of a tobacco quitline in the military, and the dissemination of the Look Ahead Weight Management Treatment with military personnel. Additionally, Dr. Talcott is on staff at the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center where he is a member of the teaching staff for the psychology internship.

Rebecca A. Krukowski, Ph.D.

Rebecca A. Krukowski, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
Assistant Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Rebecca A. Krukowski, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and is a clinical psychologist. Her primary focus is developing and implementing behavioral weight control interventions. She is an Investigator with the USDA-funded GLOWING project, which examines the impact of fetal programming on the weight trajectories of the offspring of lean and overweight mothers. Dr. Krukowski served as Investigator on the NIDDK-funded "Internet Assisted Obesity Treatment" (iREACH) study which compared an Internet- and in-person based weight loss program. She is an Investigator on the competitive continuation of the iREACH project that examines whether the addition of motivational interviewing to online behavioral weight control improves weight loss outcomes.

Marion Hare, M.D., M.A.

Marion Hare, M.D., M.A.

Co-Investigator
Associate Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Dr. Hare is a general pediatrician with masters' degrees in exercise physiology and epidemiology. She has committed her career to child health promotion and community research, particularly in underserved communities. She was the principal investigator of the NIH/NICHD grant entitled "Treating Childhood Obesity with Family Lifestyle Changes" and director of the Data Evaluation Center for the Urban Child Institute, a local non-profit organization dedicated to the well-being and health of Shelby County children from conception to three years old. Other research includes being the co-principal investigator of a four year locally funded randomized group trial aimed at promoting physical activity which involved over 1600 Title I pre-school children. She has directed weight management programs and through her clinical work she provides anticipatory guidance related to healthful choices, particularly regarding weight management and cardiovascular health in both children and adolescents.

Karen C. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H.

Karen C. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H.

Co-Investigator
Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Karen C. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Interim Department Chair, is an Internist and Preventive Medicine specialist. Dr. Johnson received her M.D. degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center where she completed an Internal Medicine residency. She received her Master's of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University where she completed a Preventive Medicine residency program. Dr. Johnson's primary interest has been promoting health through healthy living and she has been working in the areas of smoking cessation and obesity prevention for over 22 years. She is the principal investigator for the TARGIT study, which is exploring ways to help people stop smoking without gaining weight. She is also the principal investigator for the Women's Health Initiative, which is exploring the major causes of disease and the promotion of health in postmenopausal women. Dr. Johnson is the principal investigator for the Look AHEAD study in persons with Type II Diabetes, which is exploring whether weight loss can prevent heart attacks and stroke disease.

Phyllis Richey, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.Ed.

Phyllis Richey, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.Ed.

Co-investigator
Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Dr. Richey is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. As an exercise physiologist specializing in cardiovascular physiology and the prevention and treatment of obesity, Dr. Richey has specific expertise in the application of community health interventions. Her primary research activities since joining the Department have been physical activity interventions focusing on community health and the prevention and treatment of obesity in minority populations. During this time, Dr. Richey's work with community agencies and school systems in the Memphis area has been instrumental in the institutionalization of nationally recognized, health-related, physical activity programs throughout Shelby County. Additionally, Dr. Richey has developed a clinical and community research informatics system for the Department which is now being utilized by researchers throughout UTHSC and collaborating investigators at Universities and agencies throughout the country. She has designed this system to utilize innovative technologies, including traditional, optical, mobile and electronic connectivity, to interface with relational digital structures that provide investigators with advanced data modeling support for a wide variety of research and community health interventions.

Mehmet Kocak, Ph.D.

Mehmet Kocak, Ph.D.

Co-investigator
Assistant Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Mehmet Kocak, Ph.D., assistant professor of Preventive Medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center has been the study biostatistician for numerous Phase-I and Phase-II clinical trials conducted by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from 2002-2011 and by Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium from 2002-present, and for clinical and observational studies conducted by University of Tennessee Health Science Center since 2011. Dr. Kocak's responsibilities as the biostatistician for many clinical trials have included, but have been not limited to, statistical design of the trial, conducting and monitoring the trial, periodic reporting of study progress in semi-annual meetings, analyzing and reporting the trial data, and assisting with the study results publication. As a biostatistician, he has also conducted numerous retrospective analyses for St. Jude originated studies as well as clinical and observational studies conducted by Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, Children's Oncology Group, and University of Tennessee Health Science Center.