Jackie Epping, MEd
Jacqueline (Jackie) Epping holds the position of Lead Public Health Scientist and Team Leader for the Guidelines and Recommendations Team of the Physical Activity and Health Branch, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has focused on both older adults and children as populations in which to promote physical activity, and has had a lead role in the development of resources and provision of physical activity guidance and technical assistance to a variety of activities, programs, and initiatives at national and state levels.
Prior to joining the CDC in 1999, Jackie directed the NHLBI-funded Lifestyle Education for Activity Project (LEAP) intervention, a school-based intervention study to increase physical activity levels in high-school age girls, conducted out of the University of South Carolina, School of Public Health.
From 1991-1998, as a Physical Activity Coordinator at the Tulane University School of Public Health in New Orleans, LA, her work focused on the development, implementation and evaluation of the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) study, a national, multi-site NHLBI-funded school-based study to improve nutritional and physical activity behaviors in elementary school children. CATCH has been identified as an evidence-based intervention for increasing physical activity in school-age children.
Jackie has been involved in the development and implementation of a number of other studies and programs promoting physical activity. Recent publications include the consumer manual, Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older Adult and “Dog Walking and Physical Activity in the United States”, published in the April 2006 issue of Preventing Chronic Disease.
She has delivered over 50 presentations and training sessions on various physical activity topics.
Jackie is a former Physical Education Specialist, having earned bachelors and masters degrees in Physical Education from the University of New Orleans, with a master’s thesis and concentration in exercise physiology. She lives in Duluth, GA with her husband, five dogs, and two cats.