Obesity – “The Skinny on Fat & Diabetes”

The obesity epidemic is well-established, pulling in its wake major issues of diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea and mutiple other complications. Evidence suggests that nearly 80% of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2025 while the possibility of this being the first generation to not outlive their parents has been raised. Given these issues, obesity influences essentially all current medical and surgical care whether the practitioner realizes it or not. This symposium featuring BWH experts will present compelling, important and entertaining talks focused on obesity and current medical options related to adipogenesis, cardiometabolic issues, emerging therapeutics and interventional approaches all discussed in an actively moderated forum. Join us for this important session and come away full of new insights and hungry for even more information!!

Talk 1

Speaker: Florencia Halperin, MD, Instructor, Dept. of Medicine (Endocrinology), BWH.

Title: “The Medical Treatment of the Obese Patient with Diabetes” (starts with case presentation).

This talk will focus on currently available medical treatment for obesity and will present the data for its efficacy, highlighting the need for new approaches.

Talk 2

Speaker: Jorge Plutzky, MD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Medicine (Cardiovascular), BWH.

Title: “Obesity: Emerging Science and Therapeutics”.

This talk will focus on the science of adipogenesis and how the field is rapidly translating findings from basic science into new therapeutics.

Talk 3

Speaker: Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, Professor, Dept. of Medicine (BWH).

Title: “Cardiovascular Complications of Obesity and its Treatment”.

This talk will focus on cardiovascular side effects of obesity therapeutics.

Talk 4

Speaker: Scott Shikora, MD, Lecturer, Dept. of Surgery, BWH.

Title: “Bariatric Surgery for Obesity and Diabetes: is it a Game Changer?”.

This talk will talk about the use of bariatric surgery and novel methods of surgical weight loss for the treatment of obesity and diabetes.

Session Chairs/Moderators:

Caroline S Fox MD MPH, Associate Clinical Professor, Dept. of Medicine (Endocrinology), BWH.

Jorge Plutzky MD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Medicine (Cardiovascular), BWH.

Research bios

Dr. Deepak Bhatt’s research interests include preventive cardiology, as well as the optimal management of patients with ACS. He has authored or co-authored more than 500 publications, and is on several editorial boards. He was the international principal investigator for the many medical trials. Dr. Bhatt has been a visiting lecturer at a number of prestigious institutions throughout the world, and has been interviewed extensively by news agencies on topics ranging from premature coronary artery disease to the role of inflammation and genetics in heart attacks.

Dr. Caroline S. Fox researches metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease. As such, her laboratory focuses on three primary research domains: chronic kidney disease, obesity, and diabetes. The laboratory makes use of cross-cutting, integrative research techniques including the tools of epidemiology, biomarker research, and genetics and genomics. Formally trained as an endocrinologist, Dr. Fox brings a unique perspective to her work in cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Jorge Plutzky directs a NIH-funded basic science laboratory that investigates mechanisms contributing to the development of atherosclerosis in patients with various metabolic disorders, namely obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. Dr. Plutzky’s expertise across both basic science and clinical issues relevant to cardiovascular disease and metabolic abnormalities is well recognized.