Design and testing of innovative clinical and community-based nutrition and physical activity intervention approaches for chronic disease risk reduction in primarily low income and minority populations. Dr. Ammerman has strong research and practice collaborations across the state addressing childhood obesity and was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor to serve on the Childhood Obesity Study Committee, charged with recommending legislative action around childhood obesity. She is also PI of the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation, charged with identification, translation, and disseminationof evidence-based interventions for obesity and cardiovascular disease control and prevention. More recent research interests focus on school nutrition policy associated with childhood obesity, sustainable agriculture as it relates to improved nutrition, and social entrepreneurship as a sustainable approach to addressing public health concerns.