Barbara H. Fiese
October 30, 2008 Barbara H. Fiese, Professor and Director of the Family Resiliency Center in the Department of Human and Community Development at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was invested as The Pampered Chef, Ltd. Endowed Chair in Family Resiliency on October 30, 2008. She holds affiliated appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics. She received her PhD in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1987.
Dr. Fiese is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and serves as Chair of the APA’s Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. She also serves on the Society for Research in Child Development Policy and Communications Board and the University of Rochester School of Medicine Wynne Center for Family Research Board. She serves on the Editorial Boards of Family Process, and Journal of Pediatric Psychology and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Family Psychology. She co-authored a Society for Research In Child Development Social Policy Brief entitled “The Family Dinner Table: Implications for Children’s Health and Wellbeing” (Vol 22, #4, 2008) She served as Chair of the Department of Psychology at Syracuse University from 2000 to 2008 and was a senior scientist at the Center for Health and Behavior there prior to coming to Illinois.
Dr. Fiese’s research focuses on family factors that promote health and wellbeing in children. She is a pioneer in the study of family routines and rituals and also is known for her work in family storytelling. She is currently engaged in a five-year project supported by the national Institute of Mental Health examining the role that family routines and rituals play in promoting medical adherence and reducing anxiety in children with asthma. She was also funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to conduct primary care-based family-friendly interventions to promote medical adherence in youth with persistent asthma.
Dr. Fiese and her research team have observed over 300 families during the course of a regular mealtime. These observations are being used as the foundation for public health initiatives to prevent childhood obesity and associated risks of asthma, diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Her most recent book, Family Routines and Rituals, was published by Yale University Press in September 2006.
