Faculty & Staff

Suzanne Bennett Johnson, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair

Ellen Kolomeyer, B.S.
School-Based Interventions for Childhood Obesity Project Coordinator
(850) 645-6975
ellen.kolomeyer@med.fsu.edu

Ellen graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Minor in Child Development. Her research interests focus on developmental psychopathology and pediatric psychology. She is currently the Project Coordinator for Dr. Suzanne Johnson’s NIH-funded R01, a grant awarded to evaluate school-based interventions for childhood obesity and how parent and student behavior is influenced by Body Mass Index screenings. She is responsible for ensuring that data collection is completed with 6,500 elementary school aged children across 12 Tallahassee elementary schools.

Mary Murphy, R.N.
School-Based Interventions for Childhood Obesity Research Nurse
(850) 645-1507
mary.murphy@med.fsu.edu

The majority of my 40 year career in nursing has been spent in school health.  I was a school nurse in a K-12 laboratory school for 29 years followed by 4 years in a Title 1 elementary school.  During the past 6 years, my school health position was supervisory, working in all 43 of our district schools.  As a result of these 3 very different experiences I have had the opportunity to work with students of all age groups, from very different economic and racial backgrounds and with a very broad spectrum of health issues.  During all of my years in school health a major annual focus has been the screening program.  BMIs have been part of the screening program for the past 6 years.  It has always concerned me that although this data was collected, it wasn’t shared with parents.  I’ve observed the rise in childhood obesity over the years.  I always knew that in an ideal situation this data could be used in a positive way, with follow-up that included expanded health assessments, increased opportunities for the children to get more involved in physical activities, and for parents to get the information they need to provide a healthier life-style for their families. This grant has provided the opportunity to find out what happens when BMI screening and parent notification occurs with opportunities for participation in free wellness programs at school.