Chris Wharton's work focuses on plant-based diets, food systems and sustainability, food waste, lifestyle-wide behavior change, voluntary simplicity, screen time behaviors, and active commuting.

He is the assistant dean of innovation and strategic initiatives in the College of Health Solutions. Students in Wharton’s lab focus on improving healthy food access for underserved populations, working with farmers, farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and food hubs to identify effective, efficient, and sustainable models for healthy food distribution. Wharton is a Senior Sustainability Scientist and faculty coordinator of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.