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Christine Wood

Christine (Ito) Wood, M.D., C.L.E. is a practicing pediatrician and certified lactation educator with interests in healthy nutrition for children and the environmental and nutritional impact on health and disease. She is a compelling voice on the subject of children’s nutritional and environmental issues. She is the author of the book, How to Get Kids to Eat Great & Love It! (third edition, KidsEatGreat, Inc, 2006). Filled with practical, easy-to-understand information for parents, she backs it up with science-based research to emphasize the nutritional links to disease. She maintains another website, My Kids Doctor Visit, launched in 1997. It is a website for parents designed to give information on common illnesses, like colds, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and more. Kids Weigh to Go is her program targeting families with overweight children. Dr. Wood lectures to physicians and other health professionals (nurses, lactation consultants, dietitians, school nurses and others) on the topic of nutritional medicine for children and she gives seminars to parents on healthy lifestyle practices for children. She is a research consultant for San Diego State University with a 5-year grant (started March 2006) on preventing childhood obesity in recreation centers. She has lectured throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, and Japan. Dr. Wood is a spokesperson for an international nutritional company, USANA, and serves on their Scientific Advisory Council. She is the Co-Chair for the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative whose mission is to reduce and prevent childhood obesity in San Diego County by creating healthy environments for all children and families through advocacy, education, policy development, and environmental change. To fulfill its mission, the Initiative creates, supports, and mobilizes partners from multiple domains (i.e., sectors); provides leadership and vision; and coordinates county-wide efforts in the prevention and reduction of childhood obesity. Through her work with the Initiative, she has worked with school wellness policy, contributed to creating the Power Up 4 Sports & Health Toolkit for sports leagues, organized medical conferences addressing the role of health professionals in community advocacy and worked with a Physician Advisory Board with the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative. She was a guest writer for a special edition of Newsweek released in October 2000, called “Your Child.” Her interviews and articles have been published in magazines including: Wall Street Journal, Redbook, Parents, Parenting, American Baby, Fit Pregnancy, Family Life, Exceptional Parent, and Great Life to mention a few. A frequent guest on radio shows and also a noted expert on television, she informs parents about the critical need for proper nutrition for children. If you would like to contact her regarding print interviews, speaking engagements, radio or television spots, please see the Press Kit. She is currently practicing general pediatrics at El Camino Pediatrics. She is listed in the Best Doctors of America, representing the top 3% of doctors in this peer review polling process. She also does nutritional consultations for weight management and other nutritional problems. She attended the University of Detroit for her undergraduate degree and received her medical degree from the University of Michigan. She completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. She received her lactation educator certification from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Wood explains that she found a need to address the questions her patients repeatedly ask regarding the role nutrition plays in the health of their children. Dr. Wood says, “Parents need to realize what an important job they have to teach their kids healthy eating habits, to use proper nutritional supplementation and to participate in regular physical activity. Parents must start today and model a healthy lifestyle and do all they can to create children who will eat healthy and be active. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children . . . the gift of health.