Marian L. Fitzgibbon, PhD
Professor, Medicine and Health Policy and Administration
Dr. Fitzgibbon has focused primarily on health risk reduction interventions in minority and underserved populations. She has received consistent federal funding through NIH for more than a decade and regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer on a number of journals, including Health Psychology, The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, American Journal of Public Health, The Journal of The American Medical Association, and Ethnicity and Disease.
Dr. Fitzgibbon has mentored pre-doctoral, postdoctoral, and junior faculty for more than a decade. She has chaired 12 dissertation committees and is the primary mentor for two recipients of career development K awards through the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She recently received a minority supplement for a grant awarded from the NCI and is a mentor for a Career Development Awardee. Dr. Fitzgibbon is a member of the NIH Psychosocial Risk and Disease Prevention Study Section and has served on a number of NIH Special Emphasis Panels.
Research Interests
Dr. Fitzgibbon’s research focuses primarily on health risk reduction in minority and underserved populations. She has conducted obesity prevention trials with preschool children and their parents as well as obesity treatment interventions with women.
Recent and Noteworthy Publications
Banitt AA, Kaur H, Pulvers KM, Nollen NL, Ireland M, Fitzgibbon ML. BMI percentiles and body image discrepancy in black and white adolescents. Obesity. 2008 May;16(5): 987-991.
Fitzgibbon ML, Ferreira MR, Dolan NC, Davis TC, Rademaker AW, Wolf MS, Liu D, Gorby N, Schmitt BP, and Bennett CL. Process evaluation in an intervention designed to improve rates of colorectal cancer screening in a VA medical center. Health Promot Pract. 2007;8(3):273-281.
Fitzgibbon ML, Gans KM, Evans WD, Viswanath K, Johnson-Taylor WL, Krebs-Smith SM, Rodgers AB, Yaroch AL. Communicating healthy eating: lessons learned and future directions. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2006;39:S63-S71.
Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR. Commentary: Promoting health in an unhealthful environment: lifestyle challenges for children and adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;106(4):518-522.
Fitzgibbon ML, Stolley MR, Schiffer L, Van Horn L, KauferKristoffel K, Dyer A. Hip-Hop to Health Jr. for Latino preschool children. Obes Res. 2006;14(9):1616-1625.
Nollen N, Kaur H, Pulvers K, Choi W, Fitzgibbon ML, Li C, Nazir N, Ahluwalia, JS. Correlates of ideal body size among Black and White adolescents. J Youth Adol. 2006;35(2):276-284. S
Pulvers KM, Kaur H, Nollen NL, Greiner KA, Befort CA, Hall S, Born W, Fitzgibbon ML, Ahluwalia JS. Comparison of body perceptions between obese primary care patients and physicians: Implications for practice. Patient Educ Couns. 2008 Jun 24;73(1):73-81.
Sanchez-Johnsen, L, Hogan K, Wilkens LR, Fitzgibbon ML. Correlates of problematic eating behaviors in less acculturated Latinas. Eat Behav. 2008 Apr;9(2):181-189.
Contact Info
Institute for Health Research and Policy
University of Illinois at Chicago (MC 275)
586 Westside Research Office Bldg.
1747 West Roosevelt Road
Chicago, IL 60608
Other Title(s)
IHRP Deputy Director
Director, Section of Health Promotion Research, Department of Medicine
Director, Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
Director, Health Promotion Research Program, IHRP
IHRP Affiliation(s)
Recently Completed Research
Faith on the Move: A Faith-Based Weight Loss Breast Health Intervention for Healthy Black Women;
Low Literacy and Colorectal Screening;
Model-Directed Intervention: Colorectal Cancer Screening; Prevention of Obesity in Latino children: A Pilot Study;
Research Training in Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention;
Postdoctoral Training Program in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention;
Prevention of Colorectal Cancer: A Pilot Study of a Combined Screening, Lifestyle, and Weight-Loss Intervention;
School-based Obesity Prevention