Dr. Mercedes Carnethon is vice chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Mary Harris Thompson Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the burden and impact of chronic diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and lung disease. She and her collaborators have described the burden of these conditions in population subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation/gender identity and socioeconomic position. Dr. Carnethon’s team examines the role of health behaviors such as diet, physical activity and sleep play in health across the lifespan.
