"There probably isn't one magic bullet for obesity," Dr. Field said in 2018, when she was lead author of a paper published in the journal Obesity that analyzed data from more than 2,400 patients who had undergone bariatric weight-loss surgery.
"If there is a magic bullet," she added, "it's going to be different for different groups of people."
Dr. Field, an epidemiology professor and associate dean for faculty affairs at the Brown University School of Public Health who formerly taught at Harvard Medical School, died Oct. 10 in her home in the Newton section of Chestnut Hill.
She was 58 and had survived cancer three times during the past three decades before being diagnosed a year before her death with a glioblastoma brain tumor.
"Alison was the preeminent scholar on adolescent obesity and eating disorders," said Kerri Boutelle, a pediatrics professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California San Diego.
Dr. Field had been vice president of The Obesity Society, and was elected president of the organization not long before her last diagnosis.
The society created the Alison Field Early-Career Award for Excellence in Research in Pediatric Obesity in 2024. In addition, the organization awarded her the Presidential Medal of Distinction to recognize her "groundbreaking research to identify distinct subtypes of obesity and eating disorders across the lifespan," and for "advancing the goal of precision prevention and treatment."
Dr. Field's "humble beginnings" at the Jenny Craig clinic "were a testament to Alison herself," said Francesca Beaudoin, academic dean of public health and professor of epidemiology at Brown.
"She wasn't satisfied enough helping people one on one," Beaudoin said. "She sought to understand and tackle a problem that affects millions and millions of Americans."
Dr. Field also was a leader in "the first large study to show how eating disorders affect males," Beaudoin said.
On her webpage, Dr. Field said she focused much of her research on the causes and consequences of obesity and eating disorders "among children, adolescents, and adult women."
She was a cofounder and former codirector of the Growing Up Today Study, which has analyzed data from more than 27,000 participants.
In recent years, colleagues said in a tribute video, she expanded the scope of her studies to include gathering behavioral, familial, genetic, metabolic, and psychological data from long-term studies that begin in childhood.
That data, colleagues said, will help researchers better understand and classify how obesity and eating disorders develop in youth, and the findings may help pinpoint "subtypes" that will lead to precise approaches to prevention and treatment.
From early in Dr. Field's career, her work and studies were respected, important, and lasting, Beaudoin said.
In the tribute video, Boutelle said she and Dr. Field shared interests in the intersection of eating disorders and obesity.
Dr. Field was "not just brilliant, but creative and incredibly thoughtful," Boutelle said.
Boutelle added that Dr. Field was "motivated to bring the obesity and eating disorder fields together in a collaborative manner," and that she focused on "identifying commonalities between the two fields, whereas others see divides."
Alison Ellen Field was born in San Francisco on Aug. 8, 1966, and grew up in the city's Pacific Heights neighborhood.
Her mother, Carol Hart Field, was a writer whose 1985 book "The Italian Baker" became a classic that introduced many in this country to regional Italian breads.
Dr. Field's father, John Field, was an architect perhaps best-known for creating designs that humanized shopping centers.
From childhood onward Alison "was brilliant and she had very strong convictions and really followed an extremely strong moral and ethical compass," said her older brother, Matt, who lives a few blocks from their childhood home in Pacific Heights.
A fierce competitor, Dr. Field played on the boys' soccer team in her youth.
"She was undaunted by convention or rules that she thought didn't make sense," Matt said. "She thought the best players should play, not just the boys, and she went through her life like that. Quality mattered a lot to her."
Dr. Field "was always very fierce in her own opinions," said her cousin Lisa Bransten of San Francisco.
"And she had a wicked sense of humor and an amazing laugh," Bransten said.
Carol Field gave the young girls "a cooking lesson each year on New Year's Day -- it was amazing," Lisa said, and the girls in turn created a de facto "restaurant" complete with a menu they drew up together to serve Alison's parents.
Beginning college at the University of California San Diego, Dr. Field transferred to UC Berkeley, where she graduated with a bachelor's in psychology. Inspired by her Jenny Craig work, she went to the what is now the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for a master's, and switched to a doctoral program when a space became available.
She graduated with an epidemiology doctorate in 1995, did a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and taught there and at the School of Public Health before moving to Brown in 2015. Dr. Field also had been affiliated with Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
More than two decades ago, she met Eric Senunas. They married in 2006 and had a daughter, Sofia Hart Senunas, who is now a student at Middlesex School in Concord.
"She just had a megawatt smile," Eric said of meeting Dr. Field, "and then I talked to her a little bit and realized how smart she was and how worldly she was."
Dr. Field was athletic, too. She ran 10 marathons in five states, including the Boston Marathon, and the couple skied together as well.
A celebration of life will be announced for Dr. Field, whose husband, daughter, and brother are her immediate survivors.
A surfer in her California youth, Dr. Field was first diagnosed with cancer about three decades ago, a melanoma on her hand, Eric said. Their time together, he said, included many lessons about strength and perseverance.
"Every day's a gift," said Eric, a former technology executive who is now a writer focusing on startups.
"What will matter is who you share your life with," he said. Their marriage was "the only decision that matters in the end. I was the lucky guy."
Dr. Field was tenacious in illness. Upon hearing the glioblastoma diagnosis, Boutelle recalled, "she wasn't, like, 'Kerri, I'm scared,' "she said. "It was, 'I can't believe it's this one.' "
Living a year and two days, twice as long as the initial prognosis, "she was just insanely brave," Eric said.
Dr. Field also made sure to prepare those she loved for the end, particularly her daughter.
"I've realized the depth to which my wife had deep conversations with Sophia to help her process this in advance," Eric said. "To me, it's the last spectacular thing this spectacular woman did."