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High Res

Megan B. Ratcliff, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Phone: 513-636-5329

Email: megan.ratcliff@chmc.org

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Specialties

Clinical Interests

Assessment and treatment of psychosocial and ecological factors contributing to pediatric overweight and obesity; motivational interviewing

Research Interests

Understanding the contextual factors that influence people’s engagement in health behaviors; pediatric overweight and obesity; public health approaches to weight management; motivational interviewing treatment integrity

Biography

Megan Benoit Ratcliff, PhD, MPH, is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of pediatric overweight and obesity. She was appointed to assistant professor in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in July 2011 after completing a three-year research fellowship under the mentorship of Drs. Meg Zeller, Lori Stark and Scott Powers. Dr. Ratcliff provides clinical services in the Center for Better Health and Nutrition and the Surgical Weight Loss Program for Teens, helping families to implement treatment recommendations through careful assessment of goals, motivations, assets and potential treatment barriers. She is also a co-investigator and motivational interviewing home therapist for a NIH clinical trial investigating clinic and home family based behavioral treatment for obese preschoolers.

Education and Training

BA: Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, 1999.

MPH: Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2001.

PhD: University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2007.

Internship: Univeristy of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL 2006.

Clinical Fellowship: Emory University/Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, 2007.

Research Fellowship: Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2010; General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2011.

Certification: Clinical Psychology, Ohio State Board of Psychology, 2008.

Publications

View PubMed Publications

Zeller MH, Reiter-Purtill J, Ratcliff MB, Inge TH, Noll JG. Two-year Trends in Psychosocial Functioning Following Adolescent Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD).2011.

Ratcliff MB, Jenkins T, Reiter-Purtill J, Noll J, Zeller, MH. Risk-taking Behaviors of Adolescents with Extreme Obesity: Normative or Not? Pediatrics. 2011;127:827-834.

Stark LJ, Spear S, Boles R, Kuhl E, Ratcliff MB, Scharf C, Bolling C, Rausch J. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Clinic and Home-Based Behavioral Intervention to Decrease Obesity in Preschoolers. Obesity. 2011;19:134–141.

Ratcliff MB, Reiter-Purtill J, Riestenberg F, Bishop C, Zeller M. Racial differences in obese youths’ perception of healthcare and weight loss. Clinical Pediatrics. 2011;50,14-16 .

Zeller MH, Guilfoyle SM, Reiter-Purtill J, Ratcliff MB, Inge TH, Long JD. Adolescent Bariatric Surgery: Caregiver and Family Functioning Across the First Post-Operative Year. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD). 2011;7:145-150.

Ratcliff MB, Blount RL, Mee LL. The relationship between adolescent renal transplant recipients' perceived adversity, coping, and medical adherence. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2010 Jun;17(2):116-24.

Simons LE, Blount RL, Campbell R, Hubbard A, Goodwin B, Devine K, Benoit Ratcliff M. Decreases in anxiety associated with participation in a pediatric heart camp. Cardiology of the Young. 2007 17,631-637.

Grants

Clinic and Home Family Based Behavioral Treatment for Obese Preschoolers: LAUNCH. Co-Investigator. National Institutes of Health. Dec 2011 - Nov 2016. #R0 1 DK091251-01.