Key Lecturers

Mapping the Effectiveness and Risks of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists
Thursday, Nov. 6, 1:30-2:30 pm

Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D. is a physician-scientist; he directs the Clinical Epidemiology Center and serves as the Chief of Research and Development Service at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System. He is also a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in Saint Louis. He has several research interests including pharmacoepidemiology, environmental epidemiology, global health, and most recently the evaluating the broad health effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists. He has received numerous accolades, including serving on multiple White House committees, testifying before the U.S. Senate, and being named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Health in 2024—a distinction that underscores his global standing as a health innovator.

Lung Injury – A Forgotten Complication of Obesity
Thursday, Nov 6,  5:30-6:30 pm

Dr. Michaela Anderson completed her internal medicine residency and pulmonary critical care medicine fellowship training at Columbia University Medical Center and is now in her fourth year on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research is focused on obesity and its association with lung injury and outcomes in lung disease.

Is Lifestyle Change Dead in the Age of Highly Effective Obesity Management Medications?
Wednesday, Nov 5, 1:30-2:30 pm

Dr. Ariana M. Chao, PhD, CRNP, FNP-BC, RN is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine. She serves as the Director of Research at the Healthful Eating, Activity and Weight Program at Johns Hopkins where she also practices clinically as an obesity medicine nurse practitioner. She is internationally recognized for her leadership in obesity treatment. Her program of research is focused on the development of innovative treatments for obesity and related eating behaviors that improve physical and mental health.

Rewriting the Playbook – New Therapies for Obesity and Heart Failure
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5:30-6:30 pm

Dr. David Lefer received his PhD from Wake Forest University in 1991. He is currently a Professor in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where his research focus is on cardiovascular diseases including acute myocardial infarction and heart failure.

Balancing the Scales – The Economics of Obesity, Treatment, and Population Health
Thursday, Nov. 6, 1:30-2:30 pm

Dr. Peter Mallow received his PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2013. He has been a professor at Xavier University since 2017. His research is focus in health economics an outcomes research with a focus in population health.

Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health – Implications for Obesity Research and Care
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1:30-2:30 pm

Dr. Chiadi Ndumele is the Director of Obesity and Cardiometabolic Research, Director of the Heart Failure Prevention Program and Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Ndumele is a preventive cardiologist with doctorate level training in epidemiology, who leads a research program related to characterizing the relationship of obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors with the development of cardiovascular disease, with a particular focus on heart failure risk, and to refining strategies for cardiovascular disease prevention. His work additionally addresses the impact of social determinants of health on cardiometabolic risk factors and downstream cardiovascular outcomes.

The Upside of Abundant Adipose – Why Is Peripheral Subcutaneous Adipose Important for Health?
Thursday, Nov. 6, 1:30-2:30 pm

Stephen O’Rahilly is an endocrinologist who has transformed our understanding of the control of human energy balance and metabolism and how these can be disturbed to cause severe obesity and/or subtypes of diabetes. Stephen showed that mutations in single genes can cause a catastrophic loss of control of appetite and feeding behaviour, leading to severe obesity. Some of these inherited disorders can now be treated very effectively.

Stephen studies patients with extreme and inherited metabolic conditions such as severe obesity and insulin resistance. His work first established that some very obese children have a mutation in the gene for leptin — an appetite-controlling hormone. His work has led to a better understanding of how the brain senses its state of nutrition and controls not only appetite but growth, the rate of pubertal development and the accrual of muscle mass. His work revealed the genetic basis for more than 20 human disorders and he works with industry to develop targeted treatments.

Obesity’s Silent Attack – Neurodegenerative Risk From Alzheimer’s to Neuropathy
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1:30-2:30 pm

Dr. Evan Reynolds is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Michigan State University. He received his PhD in Biostatistics and then completed postdoctoral training in clinical neuroscience, both at the University of Michigan. The overarching goal of his research is to predict and prevent the onset of neurologic disorders, including dementia and peripheral neuropathy. Specifically, as a data scientist, he aims to assess the association between metabolic risk factors and these neurological complications by applying novel statistical methodologies to diverse clinical cohorts and large-scale databases.

30 Years of Adiponectin From Fat to Function
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1:30-2:30 pm

Philipp Scherer is Professor and Director of the Touchstone Diabetes Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Throughout his career, he has maintained an interest in processes related to cellular and systemic energy homeostasis, with a special focus on the adipocyte. He identified adiponectin, one of the first secretory factors to be described that almost exclusively originate in adipose tissue and which is currently widely studied by many different research groups. Scherer has been on the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center since 2007.
He was awarded the 2015 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association, the 2015 Britton Chance Memorial Award from A*STAR, Singapore, the 2017 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) / Novo Nordisk Foundation Diabetes Prize for Excellence, the 2018 Manpei Suzuki Prize in Japan and the 2019 Basic and Translational Science Award from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

Rewiring Our Understanding – Brain Centers in Control of Food Intake and Body Weight in Humans with Obesity
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2:00-3:00 pm

Dr. Serlie is an endocrinologist and expert in nutrition and metabolism. She is a Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and at the University of Amsterdam. Her lab studies the neurobiology of obesity and the pathophysiology of insulin resistance.

Adherence to Obesity Medicines – How Do You Make It Stick?
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5:30-6:30 pm

Arya M. Sharma is Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Past-Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta. Dr. Sharma is founder and Past-Scientific Director of Obesity Canada and co-founder and Past-President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons. In 2020 he was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Beyond BMI – What Do the Present and Future Hold?
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1:30-2:30 pm

Dr. Grant Tinsley is an Associate Professor and Director of the Energy Balance & Body Composition Laboratory at Texas Tech University. His primary research interest is the assessment and modification of body composition, which he has explored in varied populations. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and directed over 20 externally supported research projects in the areas of body composition, nutrition, and exercise.

Exploring the Complex Relationship between Alcohol and Adiposity
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5:30-6:30 pm

Dr. Tobias is a nutrition and obesity epidemiologist and Assistant Professor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tobias received her doctorate in nutrition epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and completed her postdoctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Frank Hu. Her primary research interests include identifying dietary and lifestyle risk factors for prevention of obesity-related chronic diseases, including diabetes and cancer. She holds a secondary faculty appointment at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and is co-instructor for nutrition epidemiology.

Heterogeneity of Obesity Through the Lens of Integrative Multi-omics and Imaging Analysis
Information to come

Dr Hanieh Yaghootkar is the head of Precision Health group at the University of Lincoln. Her team utilises sophisticated statistical methods, machine learning, and large-scale genetic association studies, along with human big data, to identify causal biomarkers for various diseases. Their ultimate goal is to develop personalised prediction models and understand the underlying mechanisms of complex diseases. One key aspect of her research is recognising that not all individuals with obesity face the same vulnerabilities to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They are investigating the distribution of fat internally in key organs (e.g., liver, pancreas, muscles), precisely derived from MRI scans, as an independent determinant of an individual’s risk for these adverse consequences.