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Arkansas Children's Hospital
General Information 501-364-1100
Arkansas Children's Northwest
General Information 479-725-6800
Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention Members
Meet the leadership and members of the Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention at Arkansas Children’s, advancing research, care, and community initiatives to improve children’s health.
Leadership Team
The Leadership Team provides scientific direction, strategic oversight, mentoring, and operational leadership for the Center and its integrated research cores.
Elisabet Børsheim, Ph.D.
Center Director, Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention
Professor of Pediatrics and Geriatrics (Secondary), University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Associate Director, Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center
Director, ACNC/ACRI Physical Activity Core
Research expertise includes pediatric obesity, metabolism and bioenergetics, physical activity and exercise physiology, maternal-child health, metabolic phenotyping, and translational research focused on obesity prevention and cardiometabolic health across the lifespan.
Linda Larson-Prior, Ph.D.
Associate Center Director, Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention
Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Biomedical Informatics, and Neurobiology & Developmental Science
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Director, Neurocognitive Dynamics Laboratory
Director, ACNC Brain Function Laboratory
Research expertise includes neurodevelopment, cognition, sleep, neuroimaging, biomedical informatics, obesity-related cognitive outcomes, translational neuroscience, and investigator mentoring and career development.
Mallory Allred, BSc
Program Manager, Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention
Provides operational leadership and programmatic coordination for CCOP activities, including pilot project administration, mentoring program support, meeting and retreat coordination, communications, project tracking systems, and educational programming. Mallory also manages the CCOP newsletter, supports investigator development activities, and assists with implementation of center-wide operational and sustainability initiatives.
Britney Rancifer, BSc
Budget Manager, Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention
Provides financial and operational oversight for CCOP programs, research cores, and pilot projects. Responsibilities include budget development and tracking, fiscal management, sustainability monitoring, investigator support, and coordination of administrative operations across the Center. Britney also supports milestone tracking, reporting, and long-term sustainability planning for CCOP infrastructure and research programs.
Research Cores
Andrew W. Brown, Ph.D.
Director, Biostatistics Core
Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Research expertise includes biostatistics, study design, reproducibility and rigor, obesity and nutrition research, data sharing, causal inference, and collaborative team science. Dr. Brown leads the integration of biostatistical support across CCOP and the broader Arkansas Children’s Research Institute research community.
Reid D. Landes, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Biostatistics Core
Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Research expertise includes biostatistics, clinical and epidemiological study design, animal research methodologies, mentoring, and collaborative translational research. Dr. Landes has extensive experience supporting biomedical research across pediatric, clinical, and laboratory sciences.
Craig Porter, Ph.D.
Director, Metabolism and Bioenergetics Core
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Director of the Rodent Metabolic and Behavioral Phenotyping Core, ACNC
Associate Director for Laboratory Services, ACRI
Research expertise includes metabolism and bioenergetics, stable isotope methodologies, metabolic phenotyping, mitochondrial function, indirect calorimetry, pediatric obesity, and translational metabolic research. Dr. Porter leads the development of advanced metabolic and bioenergetic research infrastructure at ACRI and directs integration of MBC services within the ACRI Connectivity Hub.
Gabriella ten Have, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Metabolism and Bioenergetics Core
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Research expertise includes pediatric metabolism, mitochondrial bioenergetics, exercise physiology, metabolic phenotyping, and translational obesity research. Dr. ten Have supports core operations, investigator training, and development of metabolic phenotyping services for clinical and preclinical research.
Taren Massey-Swindle, Ph.D.
Director, Community Engagement Core
Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Director, the LINK at ACRI
Research expertise includes implementation science, community-engaged research, dissemination and implementation strategies, child health, and translational research. Dr. Massey-Swindle leads development of community-engaged research infrastructure and statewide partnerships supporting pediatric and translational research.
Sharon Sanders, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Community Engagement Core
Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Associate Director, the LINK at ACRI
Research expertise includes community engagement, qualitative research methods, public health research, dissemination and implementation science, and community partnership development. Dr. Sanders supports training, evaluation, dissemination activities, and investigator mentorship in community-engaged research approaches.
The Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention
The Center for Childhood Obesity Prevention is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM109096. The content of this website and research reported in publications resulting from work performed under this Award are solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
11 Children's Way
Little Rock, AR 72202
