Biography

Dr. Jennifer Orlet Fisher is a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Temple University and associate director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education where she directs the Family Eating Laboratory. She holds graduate degrees in Nutrition from the University of Illinois (A.M., Nutritional Sciences, 1993) and from the Pennsylvania State University (Ph.D., Nutrition, 1997). Prior to her appointment at Temple University, Dr. Fisher was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and scientist at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston TX.

Dr. Fisher research focuses on the development of eating behavior during infancy and early childhood. The broad goal of her research is to understand how early eating environments influence child behavioral controls of food intake and health outcomes, particularly overweight. Her efforts focus on the role of the family environment, as a first and fundamental context in which eating habits develop. Over the past decade she has conducted federally-funded observational and experimental investigations of socio-environmental influences on development in appetite regulation in preschool aged children, including studies of child feeding practices and food portion sizes. Her current research focuses on snacking behaviors in young children and interventions with low-income mothers around child feeding.

Dr. Fisher has more than 100 peer-reviewed research publications. Her work has received national media coverage by the New York Times, the Scientific American Frontiers series on PBS, and more recently, the Discovery Health Channel. Dr. Fisher was the 2006 recipient of the Alex Malspina Future Leader Award given by the International Life Sciences Institute North America. Dr. Fisher is Co-Executive Editor at Appetite, a scholarly journal dedicated to the study of ingestive behavior and is on the Editorial Board of Nutrition Reviews. She is an active member of The International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and of The Obesity Society where she has held a number of leadership positions.

Education

  • PhD, Nutrition, Pennsylvania State University
  • AM, Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
  • AB, Biology, Augustana College

Curriculum Vitae 

Courses Taught

Number

Name

Level

SBS 5015

Public Health Nutrition

Graduate

Selected Publications

  • Moore, A.M., Fisher, J.O., Burgess, B., Morris, K.S., Croce, C.M., & Kong, K.L. (2023). Caregiver feeding decisions and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with snack food intake during infancy and toddlerhood. Appetite, 186, p. 106551. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.106551

  • Croce, C.M., Tripicchio, G.L., Coffman, D.L., & Fisher, J.O. (2023). Association of Snacking Frequency, Size, and Energy Density with Weight Status among Preschool-Aged Children in the United States. J Acad Nutr Diet, 123(2), pp. 309-317. United States. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2022.07.001

  • Loth, K.A., Ji, Z., Wolfson, J., Berge, J.M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Fisher, J.O. (2022). COVID-19 pandemic shifts in food-related parenting practices within an ethnically/racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of families of preschool-aged children. Appetite, 168, p. 105714. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105714

  • Power, T.G., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., Micheli, N., Papaioannou, M.A., & Hughes, S.O. (2022). Self-regulatory processes in early childhood as predictors of Hispanic children's BMI z-scores during the elementary school years: Differences by acculturation and gender. Appetite, 168, p. 105778. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105778

  • Power, T.G., Beck, A., Garcia, K.S., Aguilar, N.D., Hopwood, V., Ramos, G., Guerrero, Y.O., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., & Hughes, S.O. (2022). Low-Income Latina Mothers' Scaffolding of Preschoolers' Behavior in a Stressful Situation and Children's Self-Regulation: A Longitudinal Study. Parent Sci Pract, 22(2), pp. 161-187. England. doi: 10.1080/15295192.2020.1820835

  • Blake, C.E., Davison, K.K., Blaine, R.E., & Fisher, J.O. (2021). Occasions, purposes, and contexts for offering snacks to preschool-aged children: Schemas of caregivers with low-income backgrounds. Appetite, 167, p. 105627. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105627

  • Johnson, S.L., Shapiro, A.L.B., Moding, K.J., Flesher, A., Davis, K., & Fisher, J.O. (2021). Infant and Toddler Consumption of Sweetened and Unsweetened Lipid Nutrient Supplements After 2-Week Home Repeated Exposures. J Nutr, 151(9), pp. 2825-2834. United States. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxab148

  • Hughes, S.O., Power, T.G., O'Connor, T.M., Fisher, J.O., Micheli, N.E., & Papaioannou, M.A. (2021). Maternal feeding style and child weight status among Hispanic families with low-income levels: a longitudinal study of the direction of effects. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 18(1), p. 30. England. doi: 10.1186/s12966-021-01094-y

  • Power, T.G., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., Micheli, N., Papaioannou, M.A., & Hughes, S.O. (2021). General Parenting and Hispanic Mothers' Feeding Practices and Styles. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18(2). Switzerland. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18020380

  • Power, T.G., Beck, A.D., Fisher, J.O., Micheli, N., O'Connor, T.M., & Hughes, S.O. (2021). Observations of Maternal Feeding Practices and Styles and Young Children's Obesity Risk: A Longitudinal Study of Hispanic Mothers with Low Incomes. Child Obes, 17(1), pp. 16-25. United States. doi: 10.1089/chi.2020.0178

  • Kral, T.V.E., Moore, R.H., Chittams, J., O'Malley, L., Jones, E., Quinn, R.J., & Fisher, J.O. (2020). Does eating in the absence of hunger extend to healthy snacks in children? Pediatr Obes, 15(11), p. e12659. England. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12659

  • Schuler, B.R., Daundasekara, S.S., Hernandez, D.C., Dumenci, L., Clark, M., Fisher, J.O., & Miller, A.L. (2020). Economic hardship and child intake of foods high in saturated fats and added sugars: the mediating role of parenting stress among high-risk families. Public Health Nutr, 23(15), pp. 2781-2792. England. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020001366

  • Balantekin, K.N., Anzman-Frasca, S., Francis, L.A., Ventura, A.K., Fisher, J.O., & Johnson, S.L. (2020). Positive parenting approaches and their association with child eating and weight: A narrative review from infancy to adolescence. Pediatr Obes, 15(10), p. e12722. England. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12722

  • Kral, T.V.E., Moore, R.H., Chittams, J., O'Malley, L., Jones, E., Quinn, R.J., & Fisher, J.O. (2020). Caloric compensation and appetite control in children of different weight status and predisposition to obesity. Appetite, 151, p. 104701. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104701

  • Qualls-Creekmore, E., Marlatt, K.L., Aarts, E., Bruce-Keller, A., Church, T.S., Clément, K., Fisher, J.O., Gordon-Larsen, P., Morrison, C.D., Raybould, H.E., Ryan, D.H., Schauer, P.R., Spector, A.C., Spetter, M.S., Stuber, G.D., Berthoud, H., & Ravussin, E. (2020). What Should I Eat and Why? The Environmental, Genetic, and Behavioral Determinants of Food Choice: Summary from a Pennington Scientific Symposium. Obesity (Silver Spring), 28(8), pp. 1386-1396. United States. doi: 10.1002/oby.22806

  • Anzman-Frasca, S., Davison, K.K., Fisher, J.O., Francis, L.A., Johnson, S.L., Lavner, J.A., Paul, I.M., Ventura, A.K., & Savage, J.S. (2020). Biography of Leann L Birch, PhD, 25 June 1946 - 26 May 2019. J Nutr, 150(6), pp. 1343-1347. United States. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa127

  • Wood, A.C., Blissett, J.M., Brunstrom, J.M., Carnell, S., Faith, M.S., Fisher, J.O., Hayman, L.L., Khalsa, A.S., Hughes, S.O., Miller, A.L., Momin, S.R., Welsh, J.A., Woo, J.G., Haycraft, E., & Council, A.H.A.C.o.n.L.a.C.H.C.o.n.E.a.P.C.o.n.L.C.H.D.a.H.H.i.n.t.Y.C.o.n.C.a.S.N.a.S. (2020). Caregiver Influences on Eating Behaviors in Young Children: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. J Am Heart Assoc, 9(10), p. e014520. England. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.014520

  • Bauer, K.W., Foster, G.D., Weeks, H.M., Polonsky, H.M., Davey, A., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Ruth, K.J., Dale, L.C., & Fisher, J.O. (2020). Breakfast in the Classroom Initiative and Students' Breakfast Consumption Behaviors: A Group Randomized Trial. Am J Public Health, 110(4), pp. 540-546. United States. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305511

  • Larsen, J.K., Beckers, D., Karssen, L.T., & Fisher, J.O. (2020). Food parenting and children's diet and weight outcome. In Food Science, Technology and Nutrition for Babies and Children (pp. 211-233). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-35997-3_10

  • Loth, K.A., Tate, A.D., Trofholz, A., Fisher, J.O., Miller, L., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Berge, J.M. (2020). Ecological momentary assessment of the snacking environments of children from racially/ethnically diverse households. Appetite, 145, p. 104497. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.104497

  • Power, T.G., Hidalgo-Mendez, J., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., Micheli, N., & Hughes, S.O. (2020). Obesity risk in Hispanic children: Bidirectional associations between child eating behavior and child weight status over time. Eat Behav, 36, p. 101366. United States. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2020.101366

  • Cowan, A.E., Higgins, K.A., Fisher, J.O., Tripicchio, G.L., Mattes, R.D., Zou, P., & Bailey, R.L. (2020). Examination of different definitions of snacking frequency and associations with weight status among U.S. adults. PLoS One, 15(6), p. e0234355. United States. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234355

  • Hidalgo-Mendez, J., Power, T.G., Fisher, J.O., O'Connor, T.M., & Hughes, S.O. (2019). Child weight status and accuracy of perceived child weight status as predictors of Latina mothers' feeding practices and styles. Appetite, 142, p. 104387. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.104387

  • Tripicchio, G.L., Kachurak, A., Davey, A., Bailey, R.L., Dabritz, L.J., & Fisher, J.O. (2019). Associations between Snacking and Weight Status among Adolescents 12-19 Years in the United States. Nutrients, 11(7). Switzerland. doi: 10.3390/nu11071486

  • Kachurak, A., Bailey, R.L., Davey, A., Dabritz, L., & Fisher, J.O. (2019). Daily Snacking Occasions, Snack Size, and Snack Energy Density as Predictors of Diet Quality among US Children Aged 2 to 5 Years. Nutrients, 11(7). Switzerland. doi: 10.3390/nu11071440

  • Loth, K.A., Uy, M.J.A., Winkler, M.R., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Fisher, J.O., & Berge, J.M. (2019). The intergenerational transmission of family meal practices: a mixed-methods study of parents of young children. Public Health Nutr, 22(7), pp. 1269-1280. England. doi: 10.1017/S1368980018003920

  • Polonsky, H.M., Bauer, K.W., Fisher, J.O., Davey, A., Sherman, S., Abel, M.L., Hanlon, A., Ruth, K.J., Dale, L.C., & Foster, G.D. (2019). Effect of a Breakfast in the Classroom Initiative on Obesity in Urban School-aged Children: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr, 173(4), pp. 326-333. United States. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.5531

  • English, L.K., Masterson, T.D., Fearnbach, S.N., Tanofsky-Kraff, M., Fisher, J., Wilson, S.J., Rolls, B.J., & Keller, K.L. (2019). Increased brain and behavioural susceptibility to portion size in children with loss of control eating. Pediatr Obes, 14(2), p. e12436. England. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12436

  • Tovar, A., Vaughn, A.E., Fisher, J.O., Neelon, S.E.B., Burney, R., Webster, K., Liu, T., Ostbye, T., & Ward, D.S. (2019). Modifying the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation (EPAO) to better capture feeding practices of family childcare home providers. Public Health Nutr, 22(2), pp. 223-234. England. doi: 10.1017/S1368980018002665

  • Fisher, J.O., Serrano, E.L., Foster, G.D., Hart, C.N., Davey, A., Bruton, Y.P., Kilby, L., Harnack, L., Ruth, K.J., Kachurak, A., Lawman, H.G., Martin, A., & Polonsky, H.M. (2019). Title: efficacy of a food parenting intervention for mothers with low income to reduce preschooler's solid fat and added sugar intakes: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 16(1), p. 6. England. doi: 10.1186/s12966-018-0764-3

  • Davison, K.K., Blake, C.E., Kachurak, A., Lumeng, J.C., Coffman, D.L., Miller, A.L., Hughes, S.O., Power, T.G., Vaughn, A.F., Blaine, R.E., Younginer, N., & Fisher, J.O. (2019). Corrigendum to "Development and preliminary validation of the Parenting around SNAcking Questionnaire (P-SNAQ)" Appetite 125 (2018) 323-332. Appetite, 132, p. 282. England. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.09.021