Leadership for Healthy Communities

Federal Profiles

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

When it comes to fighting childhood obesity, Senator Tom Harkin understands the complexity of this challenge and is well positioned to lead the fight on Capitol Hill. One of Washington’s leading public figures, he is a trailblazer on issues involving health care, education and agriculture. Senator Harkin has, over the years, set his sights on tackling rising rates of obesity and using public policy to make America’s children — and adults — healthier.

A Des Moines native, Senator Harkin grew up working on farms and in a bottling plant, experience that gave him insight into the role that agriculture plays in the lives of Americans. Indeed, after being elected to the Senate, he even returned to Iowa for a stint as a farmer.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a mother of two boys, is committed to ensuring America’s children have healthy foods and beverages at school. “As a parent of school-age children, I know first-hand the poor dietary temptations that are readily available to children each day at school. I remember when my boys were little and they had to learn the food pyramid. At school, they cut out all the little pieces and they'd paste them together to learn about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, they could also go down the hall in their elementary school and buy a soda pop.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, currently the Director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities and the Poussant-Satcher-Cosby Professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine, has been alerting the nation to the growing childhood obesity epidemic since 2001. Just last year, in an interactive webinar sponsered by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), he proclaimed that schools can be "great equalizers" because the majority of all children spend more of their waking hours there than anywhere else.

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