New and Emerging Research on HEAL will give you the opportunity to hear from an expert in South Carolina on some of the research that he is a part of through the University of South Carolina School of Public Health. Some of the topics that will be covered today are Obesity and environmental justice, the development of a Childhood Obesogenic Environment Index and its application across South Carolina counties, as well as Pedestrian and Cyclist Crashes across SC. We hope that hearing about this research will help grow your understanding about environments that support healthy behaviors and how we might address them in our state.
Dr. Andy Kaczynski is a Co-Investigator with the USC Prevention Research Center and Director of the Built Environment and Community Health (BEACH) Laboratory. In the BEACH Lab, he and his students study how the communities in which we live, work, learn, pray, and play affect the health and well-being of residents of all ages. In addition, Dr. Kaczynski’s research adopts an environmental justice approach to examine whether different population segments or geographic areas have equal access to positive resources (e.g., parks) or protection from negative amenities (e.g., fast food restaurants). Overall, research in the BEACH Lab aims to develop tools, systems, and environmental and policy interventions that engage community members and other diverse stakeholders in building neighborhoods and communities that promote physical activity, healthy eating, and obesity and chronic disease prevention.