Mary Story
Director, Healthy Eating Research National Program, RWJ
Professor in Family Medicine and Community Health
Research Professor of Global Health
Professor in Pediatrics
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Mary Story
Director, Healthy Eating Research National Program, RWJ
Professor in Family Medicine and Community Health
Research Professor of Global Health
Professor in Pediatrics
Mary Story (she/her/hers), PhD, RD is a Professor of Global Health, and Family Medicine and Community Health. She served as the Director for Academic Programs for the Duke Global Health Institute from January 2010-June 2024. Mary came to Duke in 2014. Prior to that she was a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and served in leadership positions including Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the School from 2011-2013.
Mary is a leading scholar and researcher in the field of child and adolescent nutrition and child obesity prevention. She has published over 500 scientific articles, books and book chapters in this field. She has received numerous national awards for her work and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Since 2005, she has directed the Healthy Eating Research program, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports research on policy, systems and environmental strategies to promote healthy eating among children to improve nutrition and prevent childhood obesity.
Dr. Story has devoted her research career to the study of child and adolescent nutrition and childhood obesity prevention. Her research has focused primarily on nutrition and diet-related issues of low-income and minority youth and their families, and environmental and behavioral community-based obesity prevention interventions for youth.
Dr. Story has conducted several NIH funded school and community-based obesity prevention trials. She was the Principal Investigator on the NIH funded, Pathways study, a multi-site school-based obesity intervention for American Indian youth residing on seven Indian reservations; and the NIH/NHLBI funded phase I multi-site obesity prevention study for African American preadolescent girls, The Girls Health Enrichment Multi-Site Studies (GEMS), which developed, implemented and evaluated an after-school obesity prevention program for African American girls ages 8-10. She was PI on Bright Start, a NIH funded school and family-based obesity prevention randomized community trial study on the Pine Ridge reservation with kindergarten and first grade children. She has been a co-investigator on several NIH grants such as Project EAT a longitudinal study of factors influencing diet and obesity in adolescents and young adults, New Moves an obesity prevention trial with adolescent girls and several environmental interventions to improve healthy eating, including several pricing interventions.
Projects
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Supporting Commissioned Research through Healthy Eating Research
United States
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Developing evidence-based recommendations for promoting nutrition and healthy feeding patterns for children from birth through 24 months
United States
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Healthy Eating Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
United States
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Supplement to Healthy Eating Research to Support Commissioned Research on In-Store Marketing and Early Care and Education
United States
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Patterns of Adolescent Food Intake: Consequences and Contextual Influences
United States
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Policy process implementation and international dissemination of maternal and infant health and child nutrition in China
United States
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Policy Process, Implementation Experience, Historical Lessons and International Dissemination of Maternal and Infant Health and Child Nutrition in China
United States
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Policy Process, Implementation Experience, Historical Lessons and International Dissemination of Maternal and Infant Health and Child Nutrition in China
United States
Publications
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Neshteruk CD, Ammerman AS, Story M, Pate R, Chang DI, Willis EA. Honoring Dr. Dianne Stanton Ward: A Legacy of Transformative Leadership in Childhood Obesity Prevention and Health Promotion. Child Obes. 2025 Mar 27;Kay MC, Anater A, Guthrie J, Hampton J, Story M. Whole grain intake among young children ages 12 to 48 months participating in the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study was higher in 2016 compared to 2008. Nutr Res. 2025 Mar;135:1–12.Armstrong SC, Neshteruk CD, Li JS, Kraus WE, Shah S, Story M, et al. Using Parks and Recreation Providers to Enhance Obesity Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Pediatrics. 2025 Feb 10;Cohen DA, Preciado M, Voorhees A, Castillo A, Montes M, Labisi T, et al. Feasibility and Acceptability of Standardizing Portions in Restaurants. J Urban Health. 2024 Aug;101(4):775–81.
See more publications at Scholars@Duke