Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H.

Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H., was a Health & Society Scholar at Harvard University, and is now on the faculty at the Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. His research has explored the obesity epidemic in poor communities, focusing specifically on physicians’ knowledge and attitudes regarding obesity and the availability of fast food in poor and minority neighborhoods. In the July 15, 2009, issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, Block published a new study that is believed to be one of the first of its kind to look at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress—job-related demands, difficulty paying bills, strained family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder—in the U.S. population.