Dr. Richard Boles is a pediatric psychologist with specialization in child behavior and nutrition. He earned his doctoral degree in clinical child psychology from the University of Kansas and completed his pediatric residency and fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Boles is a Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition, and a member of the Section of Developmental Pediatrics / JFK Partners serving as Associate Director of Research.   

Clinically, he provides individual and group outpatient services in the Lifestyle Medicine Weight Management Clinic and Adolescent Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Boles currently conducts research on the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity targeting parenting strategies, the home environment, and healthy habits affecting weight development. He has additional expertise in research methodology and statistical applications for clinical interventions.

As a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Boles published findings for one of the first randomized controlled trials for treatment of preschool obesity. As faculty, he received a NIH career development award to expand this programmatic focus on pediatric obesity among low-income families of minority status. Additionally, he has been PI or co- investigator on grants funded by the NIH, USDA, Colorado Health Foundation, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which collectively further developed his patient-oriented research on pediatric obesity with a strong emphasis on families with socioeconomic and racial /ethnic diversity. His additional research has identified sleep and activity behaviors related to weight development in children, including research examining family functioning on child sleep in children with diversity. His current portfolio includes being co-investigator on multiple federally funded investigations with aims evaluating the impact of lifestyle, medication, and surgical interventions on health outcomes in childhood and adolescence as well as mental health interventions for individuals with intellectual and developmental disability. He has been invited to lecture nationally and internationally with nearly 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and research abstracts.