Location

E15 Bartos Auditorium

Description

Why do we reach for a cookie when we know an apple is better for us, even if we’re trying to lose weight? And, more to the point: What does it take to get us to reach for the apple instead? Find out what the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is learning about what it really takes to change people’s behavior. Drawing on ideas from the worlds of science, advertising, economics, social networking and design, Dr. Melichar will review major influence strategies and emerging research. At the end of her talk, she’d like to hear from you: What influences your behavior? What does it take to get you to change? And what innovative ideas do you have for motivating behavior change – in the arena of health, or otherwise?

Biographies

Lori Melichar is a labor economist and team director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), where she focuses on scouting cutting edge ideas across sectors with the potential to create a culture of health. Previously at the foundation she managed several programs to help create a well-trained health care workforce and was part of efforts to advance the science of quality improvement (QI) research and evaluation. Prior to joining RWJF in 2002 Melichar served with the National Institutes of Child Health and Development and the Demography of Inequality initiative at the University of Maryland Center on Population, Gender and Inequality. She also has worked at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals as a consultant and economic policy analyst and at the Project Hope Center for Health Affairs. Melichar holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.