Rebecca Krukowski, PhD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) has received a grant for $3.3 million over five years for a program to help women in the United States military return to fitness standards after the birth of a baby. This project is the result of a cooperative agreement between UTHSC and the United States Air Force.

Krukowski, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine in the College of Medicine at UTHSC, said 34 percent of women in the military are overweight, and six percent are obese. Like civilian women, many gain more than the Institute of Medicine’s recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, she said, and have trouble losing weight later.

She is working with Gerald Wayne Talcott, PhD, ABPP, along with many other collaborators. Talcott, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force who lives in San Antonio, Texas, is a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and director of Medical Research in the Center for Population Sciences at UTHSC. Dr. Talcott said weight management concerns in the military are a reflection of broader trends in society.