2009 Council Elections

Vice President Candidates

Michael I Goran, PhD
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Patrick M. O'Neil, PhD
Weight Management Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Background and Experience:
I am currently Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, with secondary appointments in the Departments of Physiology & Biophysics and Pediatrics in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. I am the founding Director of the USC Childhood Obesity Research Center and I hold the Dr Robert C and Veronica Atkins Endowed Chair in Childhood Obesity and Diabetes. My research over the last 20 years has focused on the causes and consequences of childhood obesity. I am a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and received my Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, UK in 1986, prior to postdoctoral training in the US. I previously served on the faculty of Medicine at the University of Vermont (1990-1994), and the Department of Nutrition Sciences at UAB (1994-1999) prior to joining USC.

Service to The Obesity Society:
I have been an active member of The Obesity Society for almost 20 years and have attended almost every annual meeting during this period. The Obesity Society is the primary professional organization with which I identify and participate. I have served on various committees including the Education Committee, the Program Committee (including serving as chair), the Awards Committee, the Nomination Committee, and have previously served as a Council Member of the Society. I co-founded and led the Pediatric Obesity Interest group and continue an active advisory role in this group. I have also served as an Associate Editor of our Journal for the past year and a half.

Vision for The Obesity Society:
I am running for a leadership position in The Obesity Society because it is an organization that I value highly and believe should be at the helm of the nations action plan to combat obesity and its related diseases. First and foremost, my mission will be to ensure that The Obesity Society is the scientific authority on all matters related to obesity. We need to build on this primary mission to also play an active role in other areas such as education, advocacy and informing public health policy. However, we need to find a way to do this without sacrificing our integrity as a research organization, and in a way that does not use up our valuable and limited resources. Given my specific research background, I will also work to ensure that issues related to childhood obesity are fully addressed in our Society. Finally, I will ensure adequate representation and action to meet the needs and concerns of the broad membership of our society, including trainees, new investigators and minority investigators.

In summary, I feel that at this point of my career I have the necessary skills, knowledge, background and vision to serve in this leadership capacity. I look forward to working for our society and our growing membership.

Patrick M. O'Neil, PhD

Background and Experience:
Pat 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 the obesity field since 1977 in numerous clinical, teaching, research and public education roles. He directs a long-standing university-based multi-disciplinary weight management center which offers clinical services, conducts clinical trials, and serves as a training site for clinical psychology interns. He is and has been principal investigator for a number of externally funded clinical trials of weight-loss treatments. He has numerous publications and presentations on clinical and behavioral aspects of obesity.

O'Neil serves on the Editorial Boards of Obesity, International Journal of Obesity, and Eating Behaviors: An International Journal, and is an Associate Editor of Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. He is a former member of the Committee on Military Nutrition Research of the Institute of Medicine. He has served on a number of review panels for NIDDK and is Chair of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board for the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS) Trial.

Service to The Obesity Society:
O'Neil has been a member of The Obesity Society (NAASO) since 1986. Currently, he is a member of Council. He has served as a member and Chair of the Education Committee, a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force, and a member of the recent Search Committee for Executive Vice President. He previously served as a member of the Editorial Board of Obesity Online, Editor of the NAASO web site, and Program Chair for the 1999 NAASO annual meeting in Charleston. He has also 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.

Closer to home, O'Neil is a member of the Scientific Council of the South Carolina Nutrition Research Consortium. He is also a former member and Chair of the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology, and Past President of the South Carolina Academy of Professional Psychologists. Since 2001, he has been a member of Town Council of the Town of Sullivan's Island, and before that was a member and Chair of the Town's Planning Commission.

Vision for The Obesity Society:
Today, there is a level of awareness of and concern about obesity that is unprecedented in its magnitude and scope. Throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, obesity has the attention of government leaders, health care providers, industry decision-makers, basic and clinical scientists, the media and the general population. The Obesity Society is positioned to be the professional organization to which these groups turn first for expert guidance and current research, and the organization that they view as a credible and forceful advocate for the cause of obesity treatment and prevention.

We must seize this golden moment of opportunity by both focusing and increasing our resources. The Obesity Society's core strength is its synergy of creative, capable professionals from a wide range of disciplines. Our future success demands that we continue to communicate and collaborate across disciplines, in a unified effort to address the complex problem of obesity. The Strategic Plan adopted in 2008 demarcates the most important initiatives on which we should focus our resources and unique strengths.
At the same time, we face important challenges:
A)   Achieving financial stability and growth in a difficult economy;
B) Meeting the needs of members from highly diverse disciplines and perspectives, while preserving the centripetal force necessary to harness their synergy in a unified organization;
C)   Integrating the objectives of science, practice and advocacy so that each is informed by, and informs, the others;
D)   Forging collaborations with other associations to increase our reach, while maintaining our unique "brand";
E)   Ensuring the Society's continued vigor and strength by attracting early-career members who will identify TOS as their professional home.

These opportunities and challenges will require a continuation of the excellent leadership that TOS has enjoyed throughout its existence. I believe that my experience both in and out of TOS have equipped me to contribute in this endeavor. I would be privileged to serve if nominated and elected, and am prepared to devote the energy and time required by this important responsibility.

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