The professionals at the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity include experts in medicine, psychology, nutrition and physical fitness from Dell Children's Medical Center, University of Texas Southwestern Austin Programs, University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas Child Study Center. They are dedicated to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic facing Central Texas today.
Stephen J. Pont, MD, MPH, FAAP
Stephen Pont, MD, MPH, FAAPAssistant Professor of Pediatrics
Medical Director, Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity
Medical Director, Austin ISD Student Health Services
UT Southwestern, Austin - Department of Pediatrics
UT Austin - Department of Advertising
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
Dr. Pont is a general pediatrician and is the medical director for the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity, Dell Children's Medical Center's tertiary care pediatric weight management center. The Center seeks to empower families to lead healthy, happy lives through addressing four key pillars, clinical, education, advocacy and research (CLEAR), over four levels of impact: individual/family, community/city, state and national. The Center includes a bilingual tertiary care pediatric weight management clinic ACES (Activating Children Empowering Success) , a 10-week family based group program Healthy Living Happy Living, and teen group programs in addition to education, advocacy and research activities. Dr. Pont serves on a team with the UT-School of Public Health/Dell Center for Healthy Living and the USDA/Baylor College of Medicine that has been awarded a $6.3 million CDC grant to fund a demonstration project regarding childhood obesity that will link primary care offices, schools, recreation centers/YMCAs, and community-based interventions focusing on childhood obesity in Houston and Austin.
Dr. Pont also serves as the medical director for Austin Independent School District's Student Health Services, whose Dell Children's employed staff provides student health services for the district's nearly 90,000 students and 110 campuses. Dr. Pont is a member and regular attendee of AISD's School Health Advisory Council and would love to talk with you there on the first Wednesday of the month at the AISD Board Room 6:30-8pm. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with UT-Southwestern, Austin Programs and received a BA from the University of Texas at Austin, which included a semester of study at the University of Costa Rica, MD from UT-Southwestern, pediatric residency at Arkansas Children's Hospital, and completed an academic general pediatrics/Master of Public Health fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Pont works at the individual, community, state and national levels to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, with many organizations including Children's Optimal Health, Marathon Kids, the Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Department of Agriculture, National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions' (NACHRI), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Dr. Pont currently serves as Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Provisional Section on Obesity.
Dr. Pont is fluent in Spanish and regularly utilizes print, radio and TV media to spread health messages to English and Spanish speaking families in Austin and across Texas. He enjoys playing basketball and the guitar, travelling, and practicing Bakido karate with his sons. He also enjoys travelling annually with a group from his church for a weeklong mission trip to a children's home and rural school near Guatemala City, Guatemala. Dr. Pont struggled with his weight as a child and so from a personal level also understands the need, importance, and challenge of making healthy choices daily to maintain good health. He looks forward to working to empower you with the tools so that you too may live a healthy happy life.
Kim Avila Edwards, MD, FAAP
Medical Director, Healthy Living Happy Living / Vida Sana Vida FelizTexas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
UT – Southwestern, Austin
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
Kimberly Avila Edwards MD, FAAP is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, and completed her pediatric training at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Avila Edwards is a founding clinician of the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity at Dell Children's Medical Center and is the medical director for Healthy Living, Happy Living - a 10 week, physician led multidisciplinary program for overweight and obese children.
Dr. Avila Edwards brings substantial content expertise and state and local advocacy experience to the team. Dr. Avila Edwards has been the chair of the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS) Obesity Committee since 2007. She has been an active member of the TPS Obesity committee since 2003 and was the primary author and editor of the 1st and 2nd edition of the TPS Obesity Toolkit for pediatric practitioners, which is currently available online: http://www.txpeds.org/Obesity_Toolkit/. Dr. Avila Edwards also currently serves as the co-chair of the Texas Pediatric Society Legislative Committee and has actively participated in the last 3 legislative sessions, sharing her content expertise and testifying before various legislative committees on behalf of the Texas Pediatric Society, the Texas Medical Association, and the Texas Academy of Family Physicians on various obesity-related bills.
Dr. Avila Edwards has participated in the American Academy of Pediatrics Leadership and Legislative conferences and has served on various state agency advisory committees including the advisory committee for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Dr. Avila Edwards currently chairs the Nutrition Advisory Committee for the Texas Department of Agriculture and will serve as a stakeholder for the Early Childhood Health and Nutrition Interagency Council for the state. Dr. Avila Edwards is also on the steering committee for Live Smart Texas, a statewide collaborative that seeks to reverse the obesity epidemic by involving a broad-based group of stakeholders and was most recently was asked to serve on the Texas Partnership for Children and Nature. Dr. Avila Edwards is also a member of the Texas Medical Association Council on Public Health and the Travis County Medical Society Public Health Committee. Additionally, Dr. Avila serves as the project lead for NICHQ grant Be Our Voice / Mobilizing Health Care Professionals as Community Leaders in the Fight against Childhood Obesity. Dr. Avila Edwards is also bilingual and speaks English and Spanish.
Jane Simpson Gray, PhD
Director of Psychology, Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood ObesityDirector of Psychology Training, Texas Child Study Center
Adjunct Assistant Professor, UT-Austin Department of Educational Psychology
Dr. Jane Simpson Gray is a psychologist, the Director of Psychology Training at the Texas Child Study Center, and an adjunct assistant professor in the Educational Psychology department at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gray received her doctorate in school psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. She completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Children's Hospital Boston and postdoctoral fellowship at Judge Baker Children's Center, Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Gray specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy with youth. Her interests have focused on evidence-based interventions for children experiencing depression, anxiety, conduct problems, and obesity. She is the Director of the Psychology at the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity, a member of the steering committee of Live Smart Texas, and is a consultant to the TPS Obesity Committee.
Lauren Oliver, MS, RD, LD
Registered Dietitian, Healthy Living, Happy Living/Vida Sana, Vida Feliz Program
Clinical Dietitian, Activating Children Empowering Success (ACES) Clinic
Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
Lauren Oliver is the Registered Dietitian for Healthy Living, Happy Living / Vida Sana, Vida Feliz program, a 10-week multidisciplinary intervention aimed at helping families achieve healthy lifestyle changes. Lauren also serves as the Clinical Dietitian for the ACES Clinic, a multidisciplinary family-based weight management clinic at Dell Children’s Medical Center.
Originally from Texas, Lauren graduated with her Bachelors degree in nutrition and a liberal arts honors program from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed graduate studies in nutrition at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in coordination with a dietetic internship at Tufts-New England Medical Center, where she was awarded the Rebecca Roubenoff award for excellence in clinical dietetics.
Lauren brings her experience from serving as Clinical Dietitian and Program Coordinator for the Nutrition & Fitness for Life Program, a multidisciplinary family-based weight management clinic at Boston Medical Center. As an active member of the American Dietetic Association, Lauren has earned the Pediatric and Adolescent Weight Management Certification and has written as a contributing author to the Massachusetts’ Dietetic Association newsletter Today@MDA.
Lauren also brings her expertise and interest in client-centered counseling methods, feeding dynamics, and environmentally and socially responsible food systems. She enjoys planning, cooking, and sharing meals with friends and family, and she hopes to inspire and empower families to also enjoy preparing and sharing nourishing food.
Sandra Lopez, RN, MSN, CDE
Nurse Program Coordinator, ACES Clinic,
Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity
Sandra Lopez serves as the nurse coordinator for the ACES Clinic. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin and a master of science in nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Sandra has 21 years of experience in pediatric nursing, as a general staff nurse, a public health nurse, and as a nurse program coordinator in the Specialty Care Center at Dell Children’s Medical Center. As a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), she also provides diabetes education to newly diagnosed patients and their families at Dell Children’s Medical Center.
Originally from Kerrville, Texas, Sandra is bilingual, and with her husband, enjoys keeping her two boys active in swimming, soccer, karate, and basketball.
Michele Pierson, MA, LMSW
Licensed Social Worker, Activating Children and Empowering Success (ACES) Clinic,
Healthy Living, Happy Living/ Vida Sana, Vida Feliz Program
Michele Pierson serves as social worker for the ACES clinic as well as the Healthy Living, Happy Living/ Vida Sana, Vida Feliz Program. Michele graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She received a master of arts in bilingual education at Columbia University in New York, and then went on to earn her master’s degree in social work in the graduate school of social work at Boston College. From her previous work as an outpatient therapist in both school and community settings, Michele brings her experience providing therapeutic services and case management to youth and families. Her passion is working with youth and getting outdoors on the weekends.
Ashley Delano, PT
Pediatric Physical Therapist, Activating Children Empowering Success (ACES) clinic,
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, Rehabilitation Department
Ashley Delano is the physical therapist and physical activity expert for the ACES clinic. Ashley received a bachelor's degree in human development and family sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. She went on to receive a master's degree in physical therapy from Angelo State University and is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in physical therapy at Texas Women's University.
Ashley specializes in pediatric physical therapy including orthopedic, sports medicine, developmental and McKenzie Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy for back pain methods. As a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, she stays current on physical therapy literature and treatments.
