Jean Wiecha combines expertise in nutrition science with experience in academe, government and community based organizations. She is also Youth Health Advisor to YMCA of the USA and a member of the YMCA’s national Medical Advisory Committee. 

Wiecha has been conducting community based research on child health for 20 years. Her work has focused on childhood obesity and on environmental and policy influences on nutrition, diet, and physical activity. In the past 15 years her research has helped create opportunities for youth physical activity in Boston and for school-based interventions to reduce obesity. Recent work includes developing and evaluating nutrition and physical activity standards and interventions for YMCA child care, after school, and youth day camp programs that are currently undergoing national dissemination.

Wiecha is also a coauthor of Planet Health, a middle school curriculum that has been shown to be effective in preventing both obesity and eating disorders. Planet Health is in use throughout the Boston Public School system and was disseminated widely in Massachusetts as part of Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s Jump Up and Go initiative in recent years. In 2007, Planet Health received an award from the national Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders Association (ANAD).