Amy Christison, MD
Eliza J. and Pedro A de Alarcon Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Medical Director, Healthy Kids U
Co-Director, Center for Healthy Development and Aging
Department of Pediatrics
Department of Cancer Biology
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact
Building & Room:
OSF Campus North Building Room 5636
Address:
530 NE Glen Oak Ave, Peoria, IL, 61637
Office Phone:
Related Sites:
Healthy Kids U Clinic
Building & Room:
Hillcrest Medical Plaza
Address:
420 NE Glen Oak Ave. Suite 201
Office Phone:
About
Dr. Amy Christison is the Eliza J. and Pedro A. de Alarcon Professor for Child Health in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria (UICOMP). She is a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and serves as the Medical Director of Healthy Kids U at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois—a pediatric obesity care program. She also co-directs the Center for Healthy Development and Aging at UICOMP.
Dr. Christison is the college-wide Healthcare Systems Curricular Lead for the University of Illinois College of Medicine and previously served as an Assistant Pediatric Program Director, overseeing the scholarly work of trainees. Her academic interests focus on Health Systems Science (HSS) education, and she has mentored participants in the AMA HSS Scholars Program. She has led the design, implementation, and evaluation of HSS curricula in both undergraduate and graduate medical education.
Her clinical and research interests center on childhood obesity prevention and treatment, including the breadth of clinical outcomes, practice-based, translational, and community-based research. She has played a leadership role in national research initiatives and academic organizations, including the first national pediatric obesity care program registry. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Obesity COACH Network.
Aligned with her commitment to pediatric obesity prevention, she leads efforts to align food systems, healthcare systems, and communities to promote nutrition security for all children and their families. As a co-chair of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatric Nutrition Security task force and a member of the Healthy Eating Active Living Food Systems Partners serving the Central Illinois Region, she has partnered with others to promote nutrition literacy and security. This work is collaborative, inter professional, and systems oriented.
Selected Grants
IDPH Healthy Family Lifestyles Illinois Grant, Healthy Weight and Your Child, PI
OSF/UIC Innovation Community Health Advocacy Grant, Central Illinois Child Health Initiative, PI
Children's Hospital CMN Grant, Youth Obesity Phenotype Characteristics, PI
USDA Health Equity Achieved Together Grant, Peoria Youth Wellness Community Partnership, PI
OSF Innovation Jump ARCHES grant, Correlation of Mental Helath Screening and Accelerated Growth Trajectories, PI
NIH U01AI138907, Intervention to Reduce Early Peanut Allergy in Children, Co-PI
UIC CCTS Pilot Grant, Composisiont and Collection Feasibility of Gut Microbiota of Children with and without Obesity, PI
Selected Publications
1) Gyarmati P, Song Y, Dotimas J, Yoshiba G, Christison A. Cross-sectional Comparisons of Gut Microbiome and Short Chain Fatty Acid Levels Among Children with Varied Weight Classifications. Pediatric Obesity. Pediatr Obes. 2021 June; 16(6): e12750.
2) Tripathi S, Christison AL, Levy E, McGravery J, Tekin A, Bolliger D, Kumar VK, Bansal V, Chiotos K et al. The Impact of Obesity on Disease Severity and Outcomes Among Hospitalized Children with COVID-19. Hosp Pediatr. 2021 Jun 24:e2021006087.
3) Skinner AC, Sy H, Christison A, Neshteruk C, Cuda S, Santos M, Yee JK, Thomas L, King E, Kirk S: POWER Work Group. Patient Retention in Pediatric Weight Management Programs in the United States: Analysis of Data from the Pediatrics Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry. Child Obes. 2022 Jan;18(1):31-40. doi: 10.1089/chi.2021.0092. Epub 2021 Aug 20.
4) Christison AL, Ariza AJ, Fernandez C, Kumar S, Novick MB, Santos M, Stratbucker WB, Sweeney BR, Vidmar A, Kirk S. Challenges and Solutions to Sustaining Pediatric Weight Management Programs in the United States. Clinical Obesity, Clin Obes. 2023 Jun;13(3):e12577
5) Christison AL, Tucker J, King E, Sweeney B , et al. Treating Children and Adolescents with Obesity: Characteristics of Success. Child Obes. 2024 Sept 20;. doi: 10.1089/chi.2023.0083.PubMed PMID: 37971786.
6) Kumar S, King E, Binns HJ, Christison AL, Cuda SE, Yee JK, Joseph M, Kirk S. Diabetes screening outcomes in youth presenting for paediatric weight management: A report of the Paediatric Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry. Pediatr Obes. 2024 Apr;19(4):e13102. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.13102. Epub 2024 Jan 31. PMID: 38296252.
7) Gupta, RS, Bilaver, LA, Jiang, J, Cohn, RD, Carroll, MS, Rosenman, M, Samady, W, Ariza, AJ, Binns, HJ, Christison, AL, Panza, J, Togias, A , on behalf of the iREACH Team. Pediatric Clinician Adherence to Peanut Allergy Prevention Guidelines: A Randomized Trial. Pediatrics November 2025; 156 (5): e2025071233. 10.1542/peds.2025-071233.
Publication Aggregators
Service to Community
Dr. Christison has been a member of the Healthy Eating Active Living Food Systems Partners in Central Illinois. This is a partnership of agencies and stakeholder organizations that aim to improve access to nutritious food for all community members. The collective work has created policies, processes and toolkits to promote nutrition security within the charitable food systems. The work has grown to include systems work around Food is Medicine by bringing regenerative agriculture practices among growers, healthcare systems, and dieticians to examine opportunities for building regional food sheds that promotes nutrition security and health in communities. She leads teams of health professional learners to design, implement, and evaluate strategies to promote food literacy, nutrition security, and mental health resiliency among vulnerable youth at most risk for poor health. She also leads teams to design, implement, and evaluate food is medicine and culinary medicine curricula among medical professionals throughout the continuum of training.
Professional Leadership
Obesity SIG Co-Chair, Academic Pediatric Association
COACH Network Co-Chair, Section on Obesity, American Academic of Pediatrics
Region V Co-Chair, Academic Pediatric Association
AMA Health Systems Science Scholar Program Mentor, American Medical Association
Research Committee Co-Chair, Pediatric Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry (POWER)
Executive Committee, ICAAP, Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Notable Honors
2025, UICOMP Faculty of the Year, UICOMP
2024, Clinical Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, UICOMP
2022, AAP National Special Achievement Award, American Academy of Pediatrics
Education
Residency
Comer's Children's Hospital, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1990
Medical School
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University 1987
Undergraduate School
Northwestern University 1985 HPME program
Licensures and Certifications
American Board of Pediatrics
Diplomate of American Board of Obesity Medicine
Professional Memberships
American Academy of Pediatrics
Academic Pediatric Association
The Obesity Society
Society of Pediatric Research
Selected Presentations
Healing from the Ground Up: bridging the gap between agriculture, food systems, and healthcare, Bloomington, IL, March 2025: “Soil Health to Human Health”
UICOM Annual Faculty Meeting, August 2025, Spark Talks: “Applying a Chronic Care Model for Pediatric Obesity”
AAP NCE Surgery Section on Obesity, September 2025, “Updates on Pediatric Obesity Care”
AAP Section on Obesity Summer Virtual Course, August 2025,“Expanding Access to Obesity Care”
OSF Specialty Care for the General Pediatrician Symposium, October 2025, “New Generation Obesity Medications and Pediatric Obesity Care”
Ohio Tri-State Health Services PHO Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, October 2025; “Advocacy and Systems Approaches to Flattening the Curve”
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Conference, Chicago, IL October 2025. Clinical Perspectives: Breaking the Cycle: Game-Changing Approaches to Pediatric Obesity Treatment-New Generation Medications. Chaves E, McKay I, Yilanli M, Guvenek, E, Christison AL.
Research Currently in Progress
Dr. Christison is currently characterizing the phenotypes of childhood obesity in order to inform personalized approaches to treatment. She is also examining metagenomic and metabolic signatures of the gut microbiome among children living with obesity. Community-based research focuses on food systems interventions that promote nutrition security and health among youth.