Arizona’s Empower Program has been selected for inclusion in the third revision of SNAP-Ed Strategies & Interventions: An Obesity Prevention Toolkit for States (Toolkit) that will be released in November 2015. The Toolkit review process was conducted in partnership with USDA and the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR).
For the third revision of the Toolkit, more applications were received than ever before and a panel of SNAP-Ed peers conducted blind reviews using rigorous scoring. The goal was to find mature policy, systems and environmental change interventions, and social marketing initiatives that could help other SNAP-Ed partners adapt or adopt similar evidence-based approaches in their own state.
Congratulations to everyone who contributes to the Empower Program, which is a collaborative effort throughout ADHS, for this noted national achievement. In our state, the Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity administers the SNAP-Ed Program, a nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program, through the Arizona Nutrition Network. SNAP-Ed is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Cara M. Christ, M.D., M.S. became Director for the Arizona Department of Health Services in May 2015. Dr. Christ has served the agency for more than nine years. Among her many accomplishments at ADHS, Dr. Christ collaborated with health partners and stakeholders to develop strategic plans for infectious disease prevention and control including the Governor’s Council on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. She was involved in leading statewide efforts during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and worked with partners to find solutions to improve childhood vaccination programs. In 2012, Dr. Christ managed the development and implementation of 20 Articles of Arizona Administrative Code for Health Care Institutions allowing integration of physical and behavioral health services statewide. Dr. Christ obtained her master's degree in microbiology with an emphasis in molecular virology and public health. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Follow the Director on Twitter @DrCaraChrist.
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