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Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP
Clinical Professor of Medicine
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
New York, New York
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Christie M. Ballantyne, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Section of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine
Department of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine;
Director, Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
Methodist DeBakey Heart Center
Houston, Texas
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Robert H. Eckel, MD
Professor
Department of Medicine
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Director, Lipid Clinic
University of Colorado Hospital
Denver, Colorado
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Peter H. Jones, MD, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Section of Atherosclerosis and Lipid Research
Co-Director, Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis Clinic
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
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Thomas A. Wadden, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychiatry
Director, Center for Weight and Eating Disorders
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Anne M. Wolf, RD, MS
Instructor of Research
Department of Public Health Sciences
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Charlottesville, Virginia
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Dr. Aronne has received grant/research support from Amylin Pharmaceuticals,
Medtronic, Merck & Co., Orexigen Therapeutics, and Transeuronix; has been a
consultant for Manhattan Pharmaceuticals, Metabolic Therapeutics, and sanofi-aventis;
and has served on the speakers’ bureaus of Merck & Co., Pfizer, and sanofi-aventis.
Dr. Ballantyne has been a consultant for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals,
Bayer Corp., Merck & Co., Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Pharmaceuticals,
Pfizer, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, sanofi-Synthelabo, and Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals;
and has served on the speakers’ bureaus of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Kos
Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer,
Reliant Pharmaceuticals, and Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Eckel has no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Dr. Jones has received grant/research support from Abbott Laboratories
and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals; has been a consultant for Abbott Laboratories,
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer; and has
served on the speakers’ bureaus of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.
Dr. Wadden has been a consultant for Abbott Laboratories.
Ms. Wolf has been a consultant for sanofi-aventis; and has served
on the speakers’ bureaus of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals and sanofi-aventis.
Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP
Clinical Professor of Medicine
Weill Medical College of Cornell University;
Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
New York, New York
Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP, is a leading authority on obesity and its treatment.
He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College and has an
adjunct appointment at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He
also works as Director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program, a state-of-the-art,
multidisciplinary obesity research and treatment program.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Trinity College with a BS in Biochemistry. He completed his internship
and residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Bronx Municipal Hospital
Center. He completed his graduate education as Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Fellow at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Aronne is Former President of the North American Association for the Study of
Obesity and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has authored more
than 40 papers and book chapters on obesity, and edited the National Institutes
of Health Practical Guide to the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight
and Obesity in Adults. He is a consultant to the VA Weight Management/Physical
Activity Executive Council.
Dr. Aronne has won several awards for medical teaching, including the Davidoff Prize
from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Elliot Hochstein Award from Cornell
University. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
Christie M. Ballantyne, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Section of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine
Department of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine;
Director, Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
Methodist DeBakey Heart Center
Houston, Texas
Christie M. Ballantyne, MD, is Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease
Prevention, Methodist DeBakey Heart Center; Chief of the Section of Atherosclerosis
and Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine; Director
of the Maria and Alando J. Ballantyne, MD, Atherosclerosis Laboratory; Professor
of Medicine with a joint appointment in Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine;
and Co-Director, Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis Clinic, The Methodist Hospital,
Houston, Texas.
He received his Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, and his postgraduate
training included an internal medicine residency at The University of Texas Southwestern
Medical School, Dallas, Texas, a Cardiology Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine,
and an American Heart Association/Bugher Foundation Fellowship at the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute and Institute for Molecular Genetics at Baylor.
Dr. Ballantyne is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Fellow of the American
College of Cardiology, and Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He previously
served as governor of the Texas Chapter of the American College of Cardiology and
president of the Houston Chapter of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Ballantyne has been the recipient of numerous study grants, including an American
Heart Association Established Investigator Award and several NIH grants to study
leukocyte–endothelial adhesion molecules and novel biomarkers for atherosclerosis.
He has been a member of numerous steering committees for multicenter trials, including
the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, Improved Reduction of Outcomes:
Vytorin Efficacy International Trial (IMPROVE IT), A Study to Evaluate the Effect
of Rosuvastatin on Intravascular Ultrasound-Derived Coronary Atheroma Burden (ASTEROID),
National Cholesterol Education Program Evaluation Project Utilizing Novel E-Technology
II (NEPTUNE II), and Effect of Niacin ER/Lovastatin on Peak Walking Time and Claudication
Onset Time in Patients With Intermittent Claudication (ICPOP), and has also participated
as a member of several Data and Safety Monitoring Boards.
Dr. Ballantyne is Editorial Director for www.lipidsonline.org. He has published
extensively and has spoken nationally and internationally on lipids, atherosclerosis,
and inflammation. Dr. Ballantyne's research interests include the pathophysiology
of atherosclerosis, with an emphasis on monocyte activation and adhesion.
His clinical interests include preventive cardiology, lipids, metabolic syndrome,
atherosclerosis, genetics, and coronary artery disease.
Robert H. Eckel, MD
Professor
Department of Medicine
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Director, Lipid Clinic
University of Colorado Hospital
Denver, Colorado
Robert H. Eckel, MD, is the Charles A Boettcher II Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis
at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC). At UCHSC, he is a
Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes,
as well as the Division of Cardiology. He is also a Professor of Physiology and
Biophysics at UCHSC. Dr. Eckel is Program Director of the National Institutes of
Health (NIH)-sponsored Adult General Clinical Research Center at UCHSC, and is Director
of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital.
An Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society graduate of the University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine, Dr. Eckel completed his internship and residency at the University
of Wisconsin Hospital. He completed his graduate education with a fellowship in
endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Washington.
Dr. Eckel was recently a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the NIH and
is Immediate Past President of the American Heart Association. He presented the
Edwin Bierman Award Lecture at the American Diabetes Association’s 66th Scientific
Sessions.
Dr. Eckel’s NIH-funded research has focused on the broad area of preventive
cardiology in the areas of the pathogenesis and treatment of lipid disorders and
obesity. Studies in animals and humans focus on the impact of nutrition/hormones
on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. In humans, Dr. Eckel has examined the nutritional/metabolic
predictors of weight change, lipid disorders, and atherosclerosis. In the laboratory,
he uses mice with tissue-specific modification of gene expression to address similar
issues in more extensive detail. Overall, his research is targeted to favorably
modifying the metabolic profile to reduce the risk for heart disease and stroke.
Peter H. Jones, MD, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Section of Atherosclerosis and Lipid Research
Co-Director, Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis Clinic
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
Peter H. Jones, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of Atherosclerosis
and Lipid Research, and Co-Director of the Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis
Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr. Jones also works in
the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Methodist DeBakey Heart
Center in Houston. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and specializes in
the clinical management of lipid disorders.
Dr. Jones is Medical Director of the Methodist Wellness Services at The Methodist
Hospital. He has participated in numerous clinical trials researching the effects
of drugs on lipid metabolism, including all of the HMG CoA reductase inhibitors.
He was Chairman of the Morbidity/Mortality Review Committee for the Lipoprotein
Coronary Atherosclerosis Study (LCAS) angiographic evaluation of fluvastatin performed
at Baylor. He also served as Director of the American Heart Association Lipid Disorders
Training Program at Baylor, which involved lectures and workshops on the clinical
management of dyslipidemia. Most recently, Dr. Jones has participated in drug studies
of obesity, particularly involving leptin.
Thomas A. Wadden, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychiatry
Director, Center for Weight and Eating Disorders
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Thomas A. Wadden, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for
Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
in Philadelphia.
Dr. Wadden received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Brown University.
He earned his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Wadden is Immediate Past President of the North American Association for the
Study of Obesity. He serves on the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical
Obesity Research Program, and on the editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals
such as International Journal of Eating Disorders, Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, and Obesity. He is Chairperson of the lifestyle intervention
subcommittee of the Look AHEAD study, a 12-year, National Institutes of Health-sponsored
trial that is examining the health consequences of intentional weight loss in obese
individuals with type 2 diabetes. Dr. Wadden has authored or coauthored over 200
scientific papers and book chapters. He has been coeditor of four books, the most
recent of which is Handbook of Obesity Treatment (with Albert J. Stunkard).
Dr. Wadden’s principal research concerns the treatment of obesity by methods
that have included behavior modification, very-low-calorie diets, exercise, medication,
and surgery. He has also investigated the metabolic and psychosocial consequences
of obesity and weight loss. His research has been supported for more than 20 years
by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Anne M. Wolf, RD, MS
Instructor of Research
Department of Public Health Sciences
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Charlottesville, Virginia
Anne M. Wolf, RD, MS, is an Instructor of Research in the Department of Public Health
Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She is also the President
of Anne Wolf & Associates, a group that consults with companies on issue related
to nutrition and weight management.
An honors graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Ms. Wolf went on to
complete her internship at the Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island,
as part of her Registered Dietitian credentialing. Subsequently, she received her
masters of science, with a concentration in behavioral sciences, from the Harvard
School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ms. Wolf was the principal investigator of the Improving Control with Activity and
Nutrition (ICAN) Pilot Project, a study that evaluated the cost effectiveness of
a medical nutrition therapy intervention on obese people with type 2 diabetes. She
is the co-principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded
ICAN Project, which is the first translational research study to look at the effects
of changes in diet and physical activity on blood sugar control and weight loss
at the University of Virginia.
Ms. Wolf has been actively involved in public policy and committee work in the area
of obesity, physical activity, and the economic impact of obesity. She was the chair
of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) TOOLS Task Force,
a member of a World Health Organization panel on cost effectiveness of physical
activity, and a member of 2 Centers of Disease Control and Prevention panels on
the economic impact of obesity and physical inactivity.
She has authored over 50 articles and abstracts regarding the economic impact of
obesity, and has been an invited speaker at numerous professional meetings, educational
symposia, and public education events.
