Marlene Schwartz GRD ’96, a clinical psychologist and former deputy director of the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, has been named to replace Kelly Brownell as director of the Rudd Center.

Over the last eight years, Schwartz said the Rudd Center has become a leading voice in the fight against obesity. Schwartz received her doctorate at Yale under Brownell and has worked with Brownell at the Rudd Center since he co-founded it in 2005.

In the next decade, Schwartz said she hopes that the Rudd Center will influence policy beyond the classroom, including in childhood centers and at home.

“We are really focused on doing research that can be used for social change,” Schwartz said. “That’s not going to change.”

Schwartz said she hopes to forge a stronger bond between the center and the Yale community. Apart from strengthening the existing connection with the School of Public Health, Schwartz said she wants to collaborate with the Law School and School of Management, as well as with students and faculty in Yale College.

Starting this fall, Brownell will serve as dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.