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CouncilPresidentDonna H. Ryan, MD President-ElectJennifer Lovejoy, PhD Vice-PresidentPatrick Mahlen O'Neil, PhD Immediate Past-PresidentRobert F. Kushner, MD Secretary/TreasurerDale A. Schoeller, PhD
CouncilorsRichard L. Atkinson, MD Simon Barquera, MD, PhD, MS Anthony Comuzzie, PhD Myles S. Faith, PhD Alison Field, ScD Diane T. Finegood, PhD Andrew S. Greenberg, MD Frank Greenway, MD Rebecca M. Puhl, PhD Steven R. Smith, MD, PhD
Executive Vice PresidentFrancesca Dea, CAE
Donna Ryan is Professor and Associate Executive Director for Clinical Research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Dr. Ryan’s interest in obesity research was mentored by George Bray, beginning with a 1992 dose-ranging study of sibutramine. She has been an Investigator on DPP (Diabetes Prevention Program), Co PI of POUNDS Lost (macronutrient approaches to weight loss) and Co-PI of Look AHEAD (a study of lifestyle intervention designed to produce ~10% weight loss in diabetic persons). Dr. Ryan is PI of LOSS (Louisiana Obese Subjects Study), a pragmatic clinical trial of intensive medical therapy for severe obesity conducted in six Louisiana primary care clinics as part of their routine practice. Ryan also developed an interest in obesity education and, in particular, in training primary care physicians to incorporate obesity management into their medical practices. Since 1998 she has served as Co PI for the CORE program (Centers of Obesity Research and Education), which brings continuing education in obesity management to health care professionals. She is an editorial board member for Obesity Management and Obesity Reviews. Dr. Ryan’s scholarly activities include authorship of 104 original publications and 27 chapters and reviews, primarily in the field of obesity. Dr. Ryan has served The Obesity Society (TOS) on the Education Committee from 2000-2003 and the annual TOS meeting Program Committee from 2003-2006, assuming chair duties in 2006. She has chaired the Hospitality Committee for the 2007 meeting. Dr. Ryan has served to interface academic and industrial components in addressing the obesity epidemic, serving as an advisor to drug, device, and food companies. She is a member of the Louisiana Task Force on Obesity and testifies regularly on obesity-related issues before the state legislature. Ryan is also an active mentor; she chairs the Clinical Mentoring Committee at PBRC and is a role model, in particular, for junior women scientists. Dr. Lovejoy's research interests center on the influence of reproductive hormones on body composition, regional fat distribution, and obesity-related disease. She is currently funded by NIH on one study assessing longitudinal changes in body composition during the menopause transition and another comparing methods for preventing pregnancy-associated obesity. Another strong interest is the impact of dietary fats on insulin resistance and obesity and she recently completed a study examining the acute effects of various fatty acids on insulin action and glucose metabolism. Dr. Lovejoy has been an active member of The Obesity Society since 1989. She has served on the Membership Committee and was Chair of the Finance Committee from 1998-2000 and was the 2003-2004 Secretary/Treasurer. Robert Kushner, MD, is Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University and board certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Nutrition. Research interests include clinical management of obesity and nutrition and obesity education. He is past president of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) and the American Board for Physician Nutrition Specialists (ABPNS). He is a principal member of the Centers for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) and on the editorial board of Obesity Management and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Dr. Kushner has published over 140 original articles, reviews, books and book chapters on obesity and nutrition. Dr. Kushner has served on the Nominations Committee (2002-2003, 2005-2006), the Internet CME Course Task Force (2002), and the Clinical Practice Committee (2003-2006 [Chair 2004-2006]). Annual meeting involvement includes abstract reviewer, planning workshops, faculty speaker and presentation of numerous papers. He is committee chair of a committee for the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Perioperative Nutritional, Metabolic and Nonsurgical Support of the Bariatric Surgery Patient and chair of the task force on the development of the Physician Obesity Specialist. Patrick Mahlen O'Neil, PhD Patrick M. O'Neil is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he is Director of the Weight Management Center. He received his B.S. in Economics from Louisiana State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia. O’Neil has been professionally involved in obesity since 1977 in numerous clinical, teaching, research and public education roles. He directs a long-standing multi-disciplinary weight management center offering services for people of all degrees overweight, and oversees the psychological assessment of bariatric surgery applicants. His teaching activities include supervision of psychology interns, lectures to medical students and other trainee groups, and invited continuing education lectures to physician and other practitioner audiences. He is and has been an investigator for a number of externally funded clinical trials of weight-loss agents. He is the author of numerous professional publications, chapters, and presentations, primarily concerning psychological, behavioral and other clinical aspects of obesity and its management. He is a member of the Committee on Military Nutrition Research of the Institute of Medicine and serves on the Scientific Council of the South Carolina Nutrition Research Consortium. He is also Past President of the South Carolina Academy of Professional Psychologists, and former member and Chair of the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology. From 1987 to 1996, he authored Weighing the Choices, a weekly column on weight control in the Charleston, SC, Sunday Post and Courier. Since 2001 he has served on the Town Council of Sullivan’s Island, SC. Dr. O'Neil has been a member of The Obesity Society since 1986. Currently, he is Chair of the Education committee. He previously served as Editor of the society's web site and as Program Chair for the 1999 NAASO Annual Scientific Meeting held in Charleston. He has served on the Publications and Finance Committees. He was a member of the NIH/NAASO Ad Hoc Committee for Development of The Practical Guide for the Identification, Evaluation, and treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults and is currently a member of the NAASO/NHLBI/AHA writing group for the counterpart Guide for Metabolic Syndrome.
Dr. Schoeller, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an internationally recognized expert in energy metabolism and body composition. He is best known as the first to use the doubly labeled water method for the measurement of energy expenditure in humans. He has performed extensive research in human obesity. This includes studies of the role of physical activity and energy intake in the etiology of obesity, comparison of obesity treatments to improve efficacy, and development of improved methods for measuring body composition. He has also been instrumental in identify systematic reporting errors in questionnaire based assessments of energy intake and physical activity and is currently investigating novel stable isotope biomarkers of dietary intake. Dr. Schoeller has received the Mead Johnson Award from the American Institute of Nutrition (1987) for his development of the doubly labeled water method for human use; the Herman Award (2000) from the American Society of Clinical Nutrition for his research in human obesity, and the Atwater Award from the USDA/ARS for his contributions to understanding human energy requirements. He is a former treasurer and former president of the American Society of Clinical Nutrition, and has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of nutrition and the Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, and was an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Obesity. Dr. Atkinson has spent more than 30 years in the field of obesity. Following a combined Pediatric/Adult Fellowship in Endocrine/Metabolism with George Bray at Harbor General Hospital, he served on the faculty of several medical schools performing obesity research and directing an obesity treatment program at each school. Dr. Atkinson has therefore intimately experienced both the research and patient care sides of obesity. His first area of interest was in the mechanisms of weight loss with obesity surgery, exploring whether surgery works better and longer than medical treatment and describing some of the first evidence of changes in the hormonal milieu as a consequence of surgery. He collaborated on some of the first scientific studies on very-low-calorie diets, early studies on the combination of phentermine and fenfluramine, and, also, other studies on the pharmacology of obesity drugs. In recent years, the discovery that the human adenovirus-36 causes obesity in animals and is associated with obesity in humans has become the primary focus of his research today. Dr. Atkinson has had a long interest in international affairs and obesity policy and has worked with many investigators from all over the world on a variety of projects and committees. He has attended every International Congress on Obesity since 1980. He has been active in the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) and served as a member of the Awards Committee. His proposal to the IASO Council of the idea of the New Investigator Competition led to Dr. Atkinson being asked to organize the program and its funding for the last two International Congresses on Obesity (Brazil and Sydney). Dr. Atkinson has frequently attended meetings of the European Congress on Obesity, and, since 2000, as the Editor of the International Journal of Obesity, he attends annually. Dr. Barquera is a medical surgeon from the Universidad AutĂłnoma Metropolitana in Mexico City with graduate MS and PhD degrees from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston MA. He has been a consultant for WHO, PAHO, IFPRI and the IAAE in the fields of nutrition, obesity and chronic diseases. He is co-author of diverse books and scientific papers such as the Third Report on the World Nutrition Situation of United Nations, the Mexican Nutrition Survey (1999), the Mexican Health Survey (2000) and the Mexican Health and Nutrition Survey (2006) reports. In 2003 he was a member of the team that received the Fred L. Soper award to the excellence in health literature for an article characterizing the obesity and nutrition transition situation in Mexico. Currently Dr. Barquera is president of the nutrition board of professors at the Mexican School of Public Health and Director of the Nutritional Epidemiology Division at the Nutrition and Health Research Center. He is member of the advisory board in chronic diseases and diet for the Ministry of health and has been recognized as National Investigator by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology. Anthony Comuzzie is a Scientist in the Department of Genetics at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) and a Core Scientist and Group Leader for Chronic Disease in the Southwest National Primate Research Center. DR. Comuzzie’s research focuses on the genetics of obesity, diabetes, and coronary heart disease utilizing both human and non-human primate populations. In addition, he serves as the Chair of the SFBR Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. He received his B.S. in Biology and his M.A. in Biological Anthropology from Texas A&M University, and his Ph.D. in Anthropological Genetics from the University of Kansas. Dr. Comuzzie has been actively involved in obesity research since 1992 and has been an active member of the Obesity Society since 1995. He has published over 150 scientific articles and book chapters on the genetics of obesity, diabetes, and coronary artery disease. Within the Obesity Society, Dr. Comuzzie has served on the organizing committee for the annual scientific meetings (2003-2006) and as a member of the editorial board of Obesity Research (2003-2007), and as a member of the Scientific Review Committee (2007 – Present). Additionally, Dr. Comuzzie has served on the organizing committee for the annual scientific meetings of the American Diabetes Association (2006 – 2007) and as a member of the Obesity Advisory Committee for the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism of the American Heart Association (2001 – 2003), and currently serves on the editorial board of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics. Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University Of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received his B.A in Psychology from Rutgers University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Hofstra University. He completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at the NY Obesity Research Center, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, before joining the faculty. He moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. Dr. Faith’s professional interests primarily concern the role of the family in childhood obesity onset and treatment. He has received NIH funding to study genetic and home environmental influences on child eating traits and body fat. He is the PI or co-Investigator on intervention studies targeting childhood obesity treatment or prevention in clinical, school, and primary care settings. He is the author of over 70 articles and book chapters on these issues. He is a standing member of the NIH Psychosocial Risk and Disease Prevention Study Section. Clinically, Dr. Faith enjoys his work training parents and professionals in behavioral modification strategies to help care for overweight children. Dr. Faith is a past Chair of The Obesity Society “Pediatric Obesity Interest Group” and currently serves on the society’s publications and ethics committees. He is an Associate Editor of Obesity Alison Field is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. In addition, she is Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health where she is working to develop at Reproductive, Prenatal, and Pediatric area of interest within Epidemiology, as well as an intradepartmental program in Maternal and Child Health. Dr. Field has been conducting research on the causes, correlates, and consequences of obesity, weight gain, and disordered eating since 1995? Her current research focuses on the consequences of weight cycling among adults, the association of weight control behaviors to weight change in the Growing Up Today Study and the Nurses' Health Study II and the consequences of binge eating among young adults. Dr. Field has been a TOS member since 1998. She has served on the Membership and Nominating Committees and was an Associate Editor of Obesity (2003-2008). She is currently a member of the Planning Committee and involved in the Pediatric Obesity Section. Dr. Field regularly attends the TOS annual meeting and has presented abstracts and invited talks. Dr. Diane T. Finegood is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Physiology & Kinesiology. Dr. Finegood leads the Chronic Disease Systems Modeling Lab (CDSM) which houses staff and students working to build maps, models, and solution-orientated frameworks to help address the problem of obesity. The CDSM lab uses both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, conceptual, mathematical and computer models, including system dynamics, agent based and social network methods to suggest innovative solutions to improving health and preventing chronic disease. Dr. Finegood also serves as Executive Director of the CAPTURE Project (Canadian Platform to Increase Usage of Real-world Evidence, www.thecaptureproject.ca). This strategic initiative, funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, is building a system to support the collection and use of practice and policy-relevant, “real world” evidence. In December 2008, Dr. Finegood completed her eight year tenure as Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD). During her appointment, she guided Canada’s health research agenda across INMD’s mandate and within its strategic priority on obesity and healthy body weight. She currently serves on many boards and committees, including the Advisory Board for Community Interventions for Health, the NHLBI’s Global Health Initiative, and the Board of Directors for the Canadian Obesity Network. She has received a range of honours and awards for her academic and leadership contributions to the field including: the Inaugural Distinguished Lecturer of the Canadian Obesity Network (2009) and the George Bray Founder’s Award from the Obesity Society (2005). Andy Greenberg is Director of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory at the JM-USDA HNRCA at Tufts University, recipient of the Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professorship in Nutrition and Medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. Dr. Greenberg received a B.A. from Amherst College, M.D. from New York University and performed his Endocrinology and Metabolism training and postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Greenberg has been involved in investigating and clinical care related to obesity and its complications since his fellowship at NIH. Since coming to Tufts in 1993, he has been appointed Director of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory at the Nutrition Center where his research has focused on adipocyte metabolism, the basis of obesity, and its complications. He has been PI on funded grants from NIH, the American Diabetes Association, and industry. Dr. Greenberg has published over 70 papers, review articles, book chapters, and a book. He has been involved in clinical and teaching duties in the Endocrinology and Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition Divisions at Tufts School of Medicine and Tufts-New England Medical Center. He also participates in teaching at the Medical School, the Nutrition Center, and has doctoral graduate students from the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts. Professionally, Dr. Greenberg is also a member of the executive committee of the NIH funded Boston Obesity-Nutrition Research Center. He was co-director of the 2006 Annual Meeting of The Obesity Society and he is director of the 2007 Annual Meeting. Dr. Frank Greenway is Professor and director of outpatient clinical research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is a research campus of Louisiana State University. He did his undergraduate work at Stanford University and obtained his medical degree from UCLA. After internship and residency in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, he served an endocrinology and metabolism fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, finally becoming Chief Resident in Endocrinology and Metabolism. He worked under George Bray in the General Clinical Research Center on a variety of obesity research projects. His research interest has continued to be the treatment of obesity. Dr. Greenway had a practice of internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism in Marina del Rey, California for 20 years before coming to the Pennington Center, where I have been directing the outpatient research clinic for 15 years. During my years in practice, he performed clinical trials in the office environment, taught part-time at Harbor-UCLA and directed the research training of some endocrinology fellows. Dr. Greenway became a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA before moving to Louisiana. Dr. Greenway has been a fellow in TOS since its inception in 1982, and has served as head of the clinical committee in addition to regularly participating in the TOS annual scientific sessions. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and more than 30 book chapters. Dr. Greenway has been part of the DPP, the Look Ahead trial, and other NIH funded studies in addition to receiving grants from foundations and industry. He not only has experience treating patients, but also has experience and ongoing interactions with the diverse elements of the obesity treatment community. He participated in obesity surgical research during his fellowship, did the medical support for the Harbor-UCLA surgical obesity program while in practice, was part of the NIH consensus panel on obesity surgery, the Endocrine Society committee to develop guidelines for the medical treatment of the obesity surgical patient and is now participating in obesity surgical research in Louisiana. He has served as an advisor to Jenny Craig for over 20 years and through this association have developed an appreciation of commercial weight loss. Dr. Greenway has been involved in pharmaceutical clinical trials to develop new obesity medications, and have acted in an advisory capacity for pharmaceutical companies including Orexigen, which has candidate obesity medications in phase III clinical trials. He received the Steelman-Seim award for teaching from the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and have collaborated in publications with their membership. He has a particular interest in the creation of novel foods, nutriceuticals and have acted as a consultant to General Nutrition Corporation. Rebecca Puhl, PhD, is Director of Research and Weight Stigma Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University where she is also a Research Scientist. Dr. Puhl is responsible for identifying and coordinating research and policy efforts aimed at reducing weight bias. Her recent publications address the prevalence and origins of weight stigma, interventions to reduce weight bias, and the impact of weight stigma on emotional and physical health. She has presented on these topics to academic, professional, and community groups across the country, and her research has received national and international media attention. Steven R. Smith, MD received his MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio in 1988, completed a residency in internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, and then a fellowship in Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Ochsner Clinic in 1994. He served on the faculty of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, for 15 years, most recently as Professor of Medicine and Assistant Executive Director. In August, 2009 he became Professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Lake Nona Campus) and the Executive Director, Clinical Research Institute at Florida Hospital (Orlando). His basic science research focuses on adipose tissue biology and skeletal muscle energetics / fatty acid oxidation. His clinical research program focuses on the mechanisms of substrate switching, pharmacotherapy of obesity and diabetes, and personalized therapy based on clinical subtypes. He is active in clinical trials of drugs for obesity and serves as an advisor to pharmaceutical companies and biotech. Dr. Smith has published over 100 original articles, reviews, and book chapters on obesity, diabetes and metabolism. He serves also on the editorial boards of Obesity, the International Journal of Obesity, and Diabetes. Dr. Smith has been a member of TOS since 1996. Dr. Smith served on the Annual Scientific Program Planning Committee from 2007-2009 and was chair of track 3 (clinical) from 2008-2009. He also served on the Public Affairs Committee from 2007-2009 and was chair from 2008-2009. He also serves on the Item Writing Review Council for the Obesity Medicine Physician Examination development. His annual meeting involvement includes abstract reviewer, faculty speaker, and presentation of numerous papers. Ms. Dea has worked since 2007 as principal and independent consultant at Gordian Solutions, LLC, supporting nonprofits and small businesses. Prior to this, she served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), an established membership association with 70,000 members and at the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) supported by more than 120 of the leading insurance companies. In these roles, Ms. Dea was responsible for coordinating a highly complex organization with 750 local associations, two non-profit subsidiaries and one for-profit subsidiary while working with an extensive volunteer leadership, an annual budget of $14 million and 75 staff. Before this, she also worked in media relations/communications and marketing positions at the Cellular Telecommunications Internet Association (CTIA), BellSouth MobileComm, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Nominate a colleague to be on the Council of The Obesity Society! Nominate a colleague to be on the Nominating Committee of The Obesity Society!
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