Deborah Tate is a professor in the Department of Health Behavior with 20 years of research in behavioral weight management, particularly delivered through web and mobile platforms.
 
Dr. Tate conducted several of the first randomized trials using the Internet and new technologies to deliver behavioral treatments for obesity and has continued to conduct a programmatic series of studies to determine which features of digital weight control programs contribute to efficacy.
 
Her research focuses on two main areas: (a) strategies for improving both short and long-term weight loss and (b) the translation of obesity treatment programs using alternatives to clinic-based care often involving new technologies. She has been continuously funded in obesity and digital health intervention research by the National Institutes of Health since 2000 and is known internationally for her work in web and mobile interventions.
 
Dr. Tate has published over 75 peer reviewed papers and conducted numerous RCTs based on self-regulation theory, as well as participated in multi-center trials of behavioral interventions; most involving new technologies.

Representative Courses

NUTR 802/803: Advanced Nutrition Intervention Research Methods I & II

HBHE811/NUTR 811: Development of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Interventions | Syllabus

Research Activities

Behavioral interventions
Obesity prevention and treatment
Health communications
Technology
Clinical trials
Nutrition

Service Activities

Intervention Committee Chair, Steering Committee Member, NHLBI - EARLY Trials (Early Adulthood Reduction of weight with LifesYle intervention- U01 Grant Consortium)

NIH Psychosocial Risk Disease Prevention (PRDP) Standing Member

Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Member, Nutrition Obesity Research Center

Director, Communications for Health Applications and Intervention (CHAI) Core (joint service core of LCCC and NORC)

Key Publications

Deconstructing interventions: approaches to studying behavior change techniques across obesity interventions. Wing R.R., Tate D.F., Espeland M.A., Lewis C.E., LaRose J.G., Gorin A.A., Bahnson J., Perdue L.H., Hatley K.E., Ferguson E., Garcia K.R., Lang W.; Study of Novel Approaches to Weight Gain Prevention (SNAP) Research Group (2016). Translational Behavior Medicine, 6(2), 755-62.

A randomized trial to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice intake in preschool-aged children: description of the Smart Moms intervention trial. Nezami B.T., Lytle L.A. and Tate D.F. (2016). BMC Public Health, 16(1), 847.

Innovative Self-Regulation Strategies to Reduce Weight Gain in Young Adults: The Study of Novel Approaches to Weight Gain Prevention (SNAP) Randomized Clinical Trial. Wing R.R., Tate D.F., Espeland M.A., Lewis C.E., LaRose J.G., Gorin A.A., Bahnson J., Perdue L.H., Hatley K.E., Ferguson E., Garcia K.R., Lang W.; Study of Novel Approaches to Weight Gain Prevention (SNAP) Research Group.. (2016). JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(6), 755-62.

Staff/Administrative Duties

Director, Communication for Health Applications and Interventions (CHAI) Core

Internal Advisory Board Member, Nutrition Obesity Research Center

Doctoral Program Committee, Department of Nutrition

Leadership Team Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Intervention Research, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Education

PhD, Clinical Psychology, Virginia Tech, 1999

MS, Psychology, Virginia Tech, 1995

BA, English, College of William and Mary, 1989