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Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Sc.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor in 
the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University. 
She received her B.S. from the University of San Francisco, an M.P.H. 
from San Francisco State University, and a doctorate of science in social 
epidemiology from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Dr. 

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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Appendix E
 
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Sanchez-Vaznaugh served as a Kellogg Health Scholar postdoctoral fellow 
at the Center on Social Disparities in Health, University of California, San 
Francisco-Berkeley. She is a social epidemiologist whose research focuses on 
three interrelated strands: social inequalities in health; the extent to which 
environments and policies do or do not impact the population patterns of 
disease overall; and race/ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic 
status. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh’s research includes studies on the impact 
of school-based nutrition and physical education policies on population 
patterns of childhood obesity and fitness overall and across racial/ ethnic 
groups and the potential role of nearby school environments in the vari-
ability of obesity and fitness levels among children attending public schools. 
She has received research support from the RWJF’s Salud America! research 
network to prevent obesity among Latino children and the Healthy Eating 
Research national program, as well as from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation 
and Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh presently receives research 
support that focuses on multilevel influences on childhood obesity dispari-
ties from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.