Bess Marcus

About

Bess H. Marcus is a Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. She is a clinical health psychologist with over 25 years of research experience focused on physical activity behavior. Dr. Marcus has published more than 250 papers and book chapters, as well as three books on this topic. Her work includes developing assessment instruments to measure psychosocial mediators of physical activity and creating low-cost interventions to promote physical activity in community, workplace, and primary care settings. She contributed to national recommendations for physical activity and was a contributing author to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Physical therapy
• Nursing
• Gerontology
• Psychiatry
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation
• Obstetrics
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Effect of a Novel Intervention Targeting Appetitive Traits on Body Mass Index Among Adults With Overweight or Obesity

  JAMA Network Open · 2022 · 28 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Importance: Behavioral weight loss (BWL) programs result in weight loss for some, but most individuals regain the weight. The behavioral susceptibility theory proposes that genetically determined appetitive traits, such as food responsiveness (FR) and satiety responsiveness (SR), interact with the environment and lead to overeating and weight gain; the regulation of cues (ROC) intervention was developed specifically to target FR and SR. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of ROC, ROC combined wi…

  DOI

• The impact of a randomized controlled trial of a lifestyle intervention on postpartum physical activity among at-risk hispanic women: Estudio PARTO

  PLoS ONE · 2020 · 16 citations

  AIMS: To assess the impact of a culturally modified, motivationally targeted, individually-tailored intervention on postpartum physical activity (PA) and PA self-efficacy among Hispanic women. METHODS: Estudio PARTO was a randomized controlled trial conducted in Western Massachusetts from 2013-17. Hispanic women who screened positive for gestational diabetes mellitus were randomized to a Lifestyle Intervention (LI, n = 100) or to a comparison Health and Wellness (HW, n = 104) group during late p…

  DOI

• Design and rationale for a randomized trial of a theory- and technology- enhanced physical activity intervention for Latinas: The Seamos Activas II study

  Contemporary Clinical Trials · 2020 · 14 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Randomized Trial of a Physical Activity Intervention for Latino Men: Activo

  American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2020 · 14 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Parenting Training Plus Behavioral Treatment for Children With Obesity

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-05-05 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Family-based behavioral treatment (FBT) is recommended for childhood obesity treatment; however, it is not effective for all families. Since parenting training (PT) has been associated with healthy weight and eating behaviors, intensive PT may augment delivery of behavior change strategies and improve child weight loss outcomes. Objective: To compare the efficacy of child overweight or obesity treatment that adds intensive PT to standard FBT with the efficacy of FBT alone. Design, Se…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• UCSD Integrated Cardiovascular Epidemiology Fellowship

  NIH · $5.6M · 2007–2027

• Promoting Physical Activity in Latinas via Interactive Web-based Technology

  NIH · $7.0M · 2017–2025

• NIH Grant R01HL069866

  NIH · $1.9M · 2008

Frequent coauthors

• Shira Dunsiger

  John Brown University

  325 shared

• Beth C. Bock

  Brown University

  192 shared

• Beth A. Lewis

  University of Minnesota

  154 shared

• Melissa A. Napolitano

  Milken Institute

  149 shared

• John M. Jakicic

  142 shared

• Anna E. Albrecht

  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

  135 shared

• Jessica A. Whiteley

  University of Massachusetts Boston

  133 shared

• Britta Larsen

  University of California, San Diego

  123 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  Brown University

• M.S.

  University of California, Los Angeles

• B.A.

  University of California, Los Angeles

Awards & honors

• President’s Lecture, 2015
• American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award, 2015
• Editor’s Choice Award for Best Paper of the Year, American J…
• UC San Diego Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Divers…
• “Women Who Mean Business” Award, San Diego Business Journal,…

Similar researchers at Brown University

• David Williamsh-108
• Damaris Rohsenowh-97
• Kristina Jacksonh-67