Katherine Balantekin, assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Professions, has won the inaugural Alison Field Early-Career Award for Excellence in Research in Pediatric Obesity from the Pediatric Obesity Section of The Obesity Society, the leading professional society focused on obesity science, treatment and prevention.

The honor recognizes an early-career investigator who has demonstrated a significant contribution in furthering the understanding of the causes, consequences, treatment or prevention of childhood obesity.

Balantekin has completed extensive research relating to pediatric obesity, authoring more than 60 manuscripts. She has also presented her research at numerous national and international conferences, including Obesity Week, the Obesity Society’s annual conference.

Her current research examines parental influences on eating behavior and on eating behavior in people with obesity and eating disorders. A recent study tested children’s motivation to eat certain foods after their parents restricted their access to them, with a focus on how children’s loss of control over their eating affects their eating behaviors.

Additional research includes predoctoral work that examined individual, familial and sociocultural predictors of the use of unhealthy weight-control behaviors. She also extensively researched childhood obesity prevention through intervention and human development while completing her doctorate in nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State University.