Meghan R. Longacre

Meghan R. Longacre, Assistant Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, specializes in child developmental research focusing on socioecological influences on health risk behaviors across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Her work emphasizes childhood obesity prevention, particularly examining food marketing impacts on preschoolers’ diets, and she collaborates with organizations like the Montshire Museum of Science and WGBH to design research-informed curricula for energy-balance practices in educational settings.

• Educational Background
  • BA in Psychology, Rutgers University
  • MS and PhD in Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona

Meghan contributes to academic leadership as former Director of the Hybrid (online/on-campus) Master of Public Health program at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. She co-directs the Practicum course series (PH261-PH264), integrating Applied Practice Experience and Integrated Learning Experience requirements, and teaches the Qualitative Research Methods short course. She has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students at Dartmouth since 2001.

As a methodological consultant, she advises research teams on qualitative methods in child-focused studies. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and reviews for NIH’s Time-Sensitive Obesity Policy and Program Evaluation mechanism. Her research bridges public health policy, developmental psychology, and educational innovation.