Kristen A. Copeland, MD
Title
Assistant Professor
Appointment
Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Email
kristen.copeland@cchmc.org
Phone
513-636-1687
Fax
513-636-4402
Bio
Kristen A. Copeland, MD, is a general pediatrician and a child health researcher. Her research interests are in early education settings—how the child care environment affects children’s health. In the past she has focused on child care illness policies and the temporary exclusion of children from child care settings due to illness. She studied how exclusion decisions are influenced by personal beliefs and whether they comply with national guidelines. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed literature and covered extensively by the press, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Parents Magazine.
More recently, Dr. Copeland has become interested in the opportunities child care settings offer for disease prevention and health promotion, in particular for preventing childhood obesity. Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will identify the key aspects of the child care center environment—such as physical activity policies, amount and design of playground facilities, menu content, and staff attitudes and behavior that effectively promote children’s physical activity and a balanced dietary intake. The goal of her research is to produce new knowledge than can inform the development of evidence-based policies and practices for child care centers that promote active play, improve children’s diets and foster the development of lifelong healthy habits.
Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Dr. Copeland attained her bachelor’s degree in Houston, Texas at Rice University, double majoring in French and the Social Studies of Science, Technology, and Medicine. She earned her M.D. from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She completed a pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 2002 and pursued further training in public health and health services research as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. She returned to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 2004 as a faculty member in the Division of General and Community Pediatrics.
Credentials
MD: University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, 1999.
Residency: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2002.
Fellowship: Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2004.
Certification: Pediatrics, 2002.
Research
Health of children in child care; child care illness exclusions; physical activity and obesity prevention in child care settings
Research Grants and Contracts
Current Grants:
- The influence of child care center environment on children’s physical activity. NIH, NHLBI, K23 HL088053-01. 7/1/08-4/30/13. Principal Investigator
- Promoting Children’s Physical Activity and Healthy Weight Gain: Identifying Strategies in the Child Care Center Environment.Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholars. 7/1/08-6/30/11. Principal Investigator
- NIH, NHLBI, K23 HL088053-01. 7/1/08-4/30/13. Principal Investigator
- NIH, NHLBI, K23 HL088053-01. 7/1/08-4/30/13. Principal Investigator
Completed Grants:
- Dean’s Scholar in Clinical Research. 7/1/06-6/30/08. Principal Investigator
Presentations
Copeland KA, Sherman SN, Kendeigh CA, Saelens BE Kalkwarf HK. Flip flops Mulch and No Coat: What s Preventing Children from Being Physically Active in Child Care Centers. Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in Honolulu, HI, May 2008.
Wosje, KS, Khoury, PR, Copeland KA, Daniels, SR. Dietary Patterns related to fat and bone mass in preschoolers. Presented at Experimental Biology, Spring 2008.
Copeland K., Sherman S., Saelens B., Kalkwarf, H. Benefits and Barriers to Phyiscal Activity in Child Care: Staff Perceptions. Presented at the International Conference on Physical Activity and Obesity in Children in Toronto, Canada. June 2007.
Copeland K., Sherman S., Kalkwarf, H. Saelens B., Physical Activity in Child Care: Perceptions of Playgrounds and Policies. Presented at the International Conference on Physical Activity and Obesity in Children in Toronto, Canada. June 2007.
Ellis L, Copeland K, Doyne E, DeWitt T. Do residents with private-based continuity experiences feel better prepared to practice than those in hospital-based settings? Presented at the APA Regional Breakfast and as a poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in San Francisco, CA May 2006.
Copeland KA, Blanchard T, Finkelstein JA, Southward LH. Physical and Sedentary Activity in Child Care Centers. Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in San Francisco, CA May 2006.
Copeland, K. A., Harris, E., and Cheng, T. L. Child Care Providers, Parents, and Pediatricians are Unfamiliar with National Illness Exclusion Guidelines. Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in Washington, DC, May 2005. PAS 2005:57:2799.
Copeland, K. A., Harris, E., and Cheng, T. L. Health Beliefs’ Effect on the Decision to Exclude Mildly Ill Children from Child Care. Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in Washington, DC, May 2005. PAS 2005:57:916.
Copeland, K., Jayaram, L., Dudley, C., and Leonard, L. How Do Day Care Providers Decide When a Child is Sick? Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in San Francisco, California, May 2004. PAS 2004:56:1356.
Copeland, K., Shope, T., Duggan, A. Parents’, Pediatricians’, and Child Care Providers’ Knowledge of National Illness Exclusion Guidelines and Attitudes Toward Exclusions. Poster presentation at the annual PAS Meeting in San Francisco, California, May 2004. PAS 2004:56:1125
Copeland, K., Jayaram, L., Dudley, C. How Do Day Care Providers Decide When to Send a Child Home? Presented at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, November 2003.
Jayaram, L., Copeland, K., Dudley, C. Illness in Child Care Centers: The Social Dynamics of the Exclusion Process. Presented at the Midwest Qualitative Research Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 19, 2003.
Publications, Most Recent
Benjamin SE, Copeland KA, Cradock A, Walker E, Slining MM, Neelon B, Gillman MW. Menus in child care: A comparison of state regulations to national standards.J Am Diet Assoc. (in press)
Wosje, KS, Khoury, PR, Claytor, RP, Copeland, KA, Kalkwarf, HJ, Daniels, SR. Adiposity and TV viewing are related to less bone accrual in young children.J Peds. (in press)
Copeland, K. A., Harris, E., Wang, N., and Cheng, T. L. Compliance with AAP/APHA Illness Exclusion Guidelines for Child Care Centers among Parents, Pediatricians, and Child Care Providers.Pediatrics. Vol. 118(5): Nov, 2006 .e1369-1380.
Copeland, K. A., Duggan, A. K., Shope, T. R.. Knowledge and Beliefs about Guidelines for Exclusion of Ill Children from Child Care. Ambulatory Pediatrics. Vol 5(6), 2005. 365-371.
Professional Organization Memberships
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- Academic Pediatrics Association
- Section on Early Child Care, American Academy of Pediatrics
- Member, Board of Directors, National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)
