Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, MD, MPH is a Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, and the Director of the Community-Engaged Research Center of the NUCATS Institute.  Dr. Christoffel is also Deputy Director of the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Programs in Public Health, in the Department of Preventive Medicine.  In addition to her teaching commitments, Dr. Christoffel serves as the Director for the Center on Obesity Management and Prevention (COMP) and Medical Director for the Consortium on Lowering Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) at the Children’s Memorial Hospital and Research Center in Chicago.  She is also an attending pediatrician at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. 

Dr. Christoffel’s career has included research based in primary care practices, schools, and community based organizations. She has documented cholesterol screening guideline effects in primary care practice, intentional and unintentional injury patterns in the US and Chicago, and clarified family level risk factors for pedestrian injury. Her current work examines clinical, family, and community level obesity correlates in community samples. Dr. Christoffel has also established innovative and enduring clinical, research, and advocacy programs including the Children’s Memorial Hospital (CMH) Nutrition Evaluation Clinic, the Pediatric Practice Research Group, and several programs that grew into the endowed Smith Child Health Research Program at the Children’s Memorial Research Center (CMRC). As deputy director of FSM’s Programs in Public Health, she oversees community and international education for the Feinberg School's Public Health students. She has been principal investigator on federal grants from NICHD, MCHB, AHRQ, and on many innovation projects funded by philanthropy. Dr. Christoffel has mentored fellows and junior faculty who became independent researchers in areas ranging from child development to injury prevention and practice-based research.