Spotlight: Retired Faculty Member Debbie Kaufman Featured in OPB Interview on Body Liberation and Public Health
The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health is proud to highlight a recent Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) interview featuring Debbie Kaufman, retired Senior Instructor in Community Health and the creator of the Body Liberation for Public Health Project. The interview, originally aired in January, explores the growing movement in Oregon to dismantle weight stigma and deepen our understanding of health through a more just, inclusive lens.
Championing Body Liberation in Public Health
Body liberation is an emerging movement that challenges long‑standing weight biases and harmful assumptions that equate thinness with health. Unlike body positivity, which focuses on accepting all body types, body liberation seeks to transform the systems, policies, and cultural beliefs that perpetuate stigma and discrimination.
Debbie Kaufman has been at the forefront of this work. After nearly two decades of teaching at Portland State University and the OHSU‑PSU School of Public Health, she founded the Body Liberation for Public Health Project, using her expertise to help public health professionals examine and unlearn weight‑based bias. Her teaching and scholarship emphasize how stigma, not body size, is often the root of harm. Driving chronic stress, limiting access to quality care, and shaping inequitable health outcomes.
Why This Conversation Matters
As highlighted in the OPB interview, the urgency of this work is growing. Weight‑loss medication use has surged nationwide, and weight‑related stigma continues to shape healthcare experiences in harmful ways. Body Liberation for Public Health encourages public health professionals and communities to understand health more holistically and to eliminate structural and social barriers that harm people in larger bodies.
Listen to the Full OPB Interview
We invite our community, students, alumni, and partners to listen to the full interview and join the ongoing conversation about body liberation and its importance in creating healthier, more equitable communities. Read the full OPB feature: Meet the Oregon group pushing for body liberation.