Professor Haire-Joshu is an internationally renowned scholar of health behavior who develops population wide interventions to reduce obesity and prevent diabetes, particularly among underserved youth.

Professor Haire-Joshu holds a secondary appointment with the Washington University School of Medicine. She directs the Center for Obesity Prevention and Policy Research and the Center for Diabetes Translation Research.  Her current research is supported by a number of National Institutes of Health agencies including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Missouri Foundation for Health. Her studies include translation of evidence based obesity prevention approaches through national organizations. Her work includes the development of a model statewide database for evaluating obesity related policies in Missouri. This system is now being disseminated to other states across the country.

Dr. Haire-Joshu was recently a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Obesity Prevention Policies for Young Children 0-5 years. She has served as a Health Policy Fellow in the Office of Senator Barack Obama and as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of Senator Edward Kennedy. Her work as chair of the Health Policy Committee led to her appointment as a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. She is also a member of Delta Omega, the honorary society for public health. She has published and presented her research extensively, and reviews for numerous professional journals and NIH research review groups.

Professor Haire-Joshu is the Director of the Center for Diabetes Translation Research, a research center that aims to eliminate disparities in Type 2 diabetes by translating evidence-based interventions to high-risk populations. The Center is funded by a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).