2009 Council Elections

At Large Candidates

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Simon Barquera, MD, PhD
Mexican National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Alison E. Field, ScD
Children's Hospital, Boston, MA

Diane T. Finegood, PhD
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, CA

Arturo Jimenez-Cruz, MD, PhD
Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Tijuana, Mexico

Walter J. Pories, MD, FACS
Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

Arya Sharma, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Edmonton, AB, CA

Steven R. Smith, MD
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA

Jacqueline M. Stephens, PhD
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

Simon Barquera, MD, PhD

Background and Experience
Dr. Barquera is a medical surgeon from the Universidad Autónoma 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.

Vision for The Obesity Society
Mexico currently is experiencing one of the highest prevalence’s of Obesity in the world. TOS is by far the most advanced source of cutting edge knowledge and networking for Mexican researchers. In my opinion an increased participation of Mexican researchers and professionals could also benefit Canadian and US members given the growing number of Mexican-Americans and their very high prevalence of obesity and chronic diseases.

I will be happy to collaborate and promote TOS activities in the different medical and research forums in Mexico.

Alison E. Field, ScD

Background and Experience
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.

Service to The Obesity Society
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.

Vision for The Obesity Society
I am dedicated to increasing the prominence of The Obesity Society (TOS). Obesity is a major public health problem and should be of concern to researchers, clinicians, and policy makers. In the years that I have been a member, I have seen TOS grow from a relatively small group of researchers and clinicians with few epidemiologists, psychologists, or primary care providers to a larger and more diverse organization. Our challenge is now is to expand our organization, without losing our identity. I believe that we should work with other organizations, but retain our name and independence. In order to influence health and nutrition policies and legislation, we need to educate community members and organizations, health care providers, teachers and school districts, and politicians at the local, state, and national level about obesity. Currently there are many places where people gather information on nutrition and obesity. We need to become the most trusted source for accurate and current information on the prevention, treatment, and consequences of obesity. We also need to attract more researchers interested in the genetics and pathophysiology of obesity and encourage them to attend our annual meeting, as well as publish in Obesity. In addition, we need to recruit and retain more public health, clinical, and policy-oriented researchers. The addition of a clinical/professional track at the annual meeting has been a wonderful step forward for educating clinicians. We now need to reach out to other organizations with large numbers of clinicians and promote this new track and membership in TOS. Improved marketing of TOS to a wide variety of potential members should be a high priority.

Diane T. Finegood, PhD

Background and Experience
My current appointments include Professor in the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC and Executive Director of the CAPTURE Project, a primary prevention initiative funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Last December, I stepped down after serving for 8 years as the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (Canada's NIDDK). In this role as inaugural Scientific Director of CIHR's INMD, I led the expansion of Canada's obesity research community through the selection of obesity as INMD's only strategic priority. In support of this focus on obesity, I also led the development of novel research opportunities (including new emerging teams, Canada on the Move and an intervention research program which enabled researchers to get quick turnaround on applications for time limited research on natural experiments) and built cross sector partnerships with the food industry, health charities and other government organizations. I am continuing to work on the issue of building trust in cross sector partnerships to address obesity.

Service to The Obesity Society
Over the past 30 years my academic interests have spanned a broad range of issues starting with obesity, insulin resistance, b-cell turnover and the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. My current research is using complex systems models and methods to address population level challenges associated with obesity. The breadth of my research experience from the basic biomedical sciences, through clinical, population and public health domains will help me to serve the broad range of The Obesity Society's membership. I am currently serving on a number of national and international boards and committees that will provide helpful experience and connections to TOS including the Canadian Obesity Network, the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute and Community Interventions for Health (an initiative of the Oxford Health Alliance). I have received numerous honors and awards over the years in recognition of my research and leadership including the George Bray Founder's Award from TOS (2005) and the inaugural Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Canadian Obesity Network (2009).

Vision for The Obesity Society
I hope to bring my broad range of academic and administrative experience to serve TOS as a member of council. I can help to improve connections between TOS and a broad range of academic, public and private sector stakeholders in Canada. Through service on council I would like to support TOS in its current evolution and expansion into areas such as advocacy, multi-sector partnerships, knowledge exchange and grants and awards. I hope to be able to provide my energy and experience.

Arturo Jimenez-Cruz, MD, PhD

Background and Experience
Dr Jimenez Cruz is Professor at the School of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico. He is a National Scientist of the Mexican System of Scientist (SNI) since 1989, a regular member of the Mexican Academy of Science since 2003, a fellow of both the American College of Nutrition and the Obesity Society. He has conducted research in Mexico, Spain and the USA; he also has more than 100 publications. He has been reviewer for Diabetes Care, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, Nutrition Research, Collegium Antropologicum and Revista Española de Nutrición Comunitaria. He has presented more than 100 papers in international meetings in the USA, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia, and has been invited professor in Spain, Scotland, Malaysia, USA, and Mexican universities.

He received his MD from Mexico's National Autonomous University, an MSc (nutrition) from London University, and a PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he also did residency training in Endocrinology and Nutrition. He was also a Fellow training in Diabetes in the Newcastle General Hospital in England and he spent a sabbatical in SDSU. He was president and founder of the Instituto de Nutrición de Baja California y del Colegio de Nutriólogos de Baja California.

Service to The Obesity Society
I was accepted as a fellow member of the Obesity Society in 2002. Since 2002 I participated in all the Obesity meetings as delegate presenting more than 21 posters and two oral presentations.

Walter J. Pories, MD, FACS

Background and Experience
My entire career has been devoted to nutrition and obesity, including the discoveries that zinc is an essential element for animals and man as well as the role of the trace element in healing, development of the fetus and cancer. I participated in the development total parenteral nutrition, infant formulas, animal feeds and the development of the FDA standards for mineral supplementation as well as 7/2/2009 refining the methodologies for activation analysis and atomic absorption in trace element analyses. As a surgeon, I helped to develop the current form of the gastric bypass and was the first to publish the long-term outcomes of the procedure in terms of weight loss and reversal of co-morbidities including the documentation that the operation reverses type 2 diabetes in four out of five severely obese individuals and the hypothesis that the gut plays a role in the patho-physiology of the disease. I also helped found the Centers of Excellence program for improved quality control of bariatric surgery and served as the President of the ASMBS. I continue to be funded by the NIDDK and industry in studies of insulin action and the role of the foregut in diabetes. I have also assisted in the founding of a camp for obese children and conducted studies of long-term outcomes.

Service to The Obesity Society
I have been involved in the activities of NAASO for over a decade in unofficial capacities, primarily as a bridge between the surgical, medical and basic science communities for the planning of programs and approaches to governmental agencies.

Vision for The Obesity Society
The Obesity Society has the opportunity, not the duty, to be the leader in combating the obesity pandemic through research, education and direct services to those afflicted with the disease. To accomplish these broad goals, we need to be especially active in working with governmental agencies and industry to secure the funding for research, to insist on objective measures of quality control of the care, and to identify the basic environmental causes of this disease. We need new and innovative approaches rather than the old and unfortunately ineffective approaches of "prevention", bias against the obese and ineffective medications.

Arya Sharma, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Background and Experience
Arya M. Sharma obtained his medical degree from the Free University of Berlin, Germany and is Professor and Chair of Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta. He is also the Medical Director of the Edmonton Weight Wise Program and the Scientific Director of the federally-funded Canadian Obesity Network. Dr. Sharma has been active in the field of hypertension, obesity and nutrition research since 1986 and his current research focuses on the etiology and evidence-based approach to managing severely obese patients. Dr. Sharma has authored or coauthored more than 250 scientific articles, including the 2006 Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Obesity Prevention and Management. Recently he has spearheaded a proposal for a new Clinical Obesity Staging System (EOSS) to better guide clinical decision making in obesity care. Dr. Sharma is highly regarded as a teacher and dedicated clinician and writes a widely-read award-winning obesity blog (www.drsharma.ca).

Service to The Obesity Society
Dr. Sharma has been a TOS member since moving to Canada in 2002, and is currently serving on the Development and Membership Committees of TOS (2007- present). He recently also served on the Executive Search Committee for the new TOS Chief Executive. Prior to joining TOS, Dr. Sharma was active in the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and was part of the founding faculty of the Specialist Certification of Obesity Professionals in Europe (SCOPE) program. He is also on the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) Education and Management Task Force as well as the IASO Service and Communications Advisory Board (2007-present). Dr. Sharma has been a faculty speaker and has presented abstracts at numerous TOS annual meetings. As Scientific Director of the federally-funded Canadian Obesity Network, he has championed for increasing Canadian membership and greater visibility of Canadian researchers and clinicians in TOS.

Vision for The Obesity Society
Dr. Sharma sees obesity as the root cause of myriad health problems, ranging from diabetes to arthritis and from infertility to cancer. He realizes that no one discipline holds the key to solving the obesity crisis and recognizes the need for research ranging from genetics and neurobiology to food policies and city building. Thus, only an organization like TOS can bring together the full range of researchers, clinicians, policy makers and other stakeholders to address the biggest health challenge of our times. He also recognizes the importance of weight-bias and discrimination as well as the lack of training of health professionals as key issues holding back greater investments into obesity research and better access to care. Given the worldwide dimensions of this epidemic, he envisions an important role for TOS in working with other obesity societies around the world to help set the global standards for prevention policies and patient care. To be successful, TOS needs to think globally but act locally to help make a real difference in the lives of the many adults and children challenged by excess weight - today and tomorrow.

Steven R. Smith, MD

Background and Experience
Steven R. Smith, M.D. 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.

Service to The Obesity Society
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.

Vision for The Obesity Society
I am committed to the development and activities of TOS - it is my primary professional society.Among other things, I bring to TOS a diverse scientific perspective as both a 'bench' and clinical/translational researcher. In addition, for many years I've worked closely with epidemiologists, psychologists and a diverse array of professionals and the 'public'. I believe that these experiences will enable me to serve the multiple constituencies within TOS as an at-large Council member.

My viewpoint is not only inward towards the membership but outward towards the dynamic environment that we live in. The Obesity Society faces several challenges in the next decade including the economic crisis, an increasing number of voices in the media surrounding the social, political and economic consequences and causes of obesity and a continuing trend towards other professional societies taking interest in obesity as a root cause of their diseases. These challenges are paralleled by a number of opportunities. Belt tightening, although painful, is an opportunity to hone our goals, refocus on our mission (via the strategic plan) and carefully choose the programs that define us as a society.

My emphasis as a council member will be to build upon the numerous recent successes of TOS and preserve the programs that most effectively serve our overarching mission.

Second, we need to find new ways to get the word out about our outstanding scientific meetings and publications. A strong vocal membership, modern public affairs, advocacy and creativity will be necessary but I believe we need to continue to center our attention on consolidating our position as the source of expertise in obesity.

Third, as the economy improves and new revenue streams emerge (and they certainly will as new drugs and devices enter the marketplace) we need to be thoughtful as we take our aim. Although the timing of the next uptick in our financial status cannot be exactly predicted, we need to be prepared for this eventuality and have a plan in place.

Lastly, we need to remember our origins as a science and research based organization - this is a dominant strength and the foundation of our advocacy and education initiatives. As we continue to expand outward into a larger world, remembering these roots will serve us well in the years ahead.

Jacqueline M. Stephens, PhD

Background and Experience
Jackie Stephens is the Ron and Mary Neal Professor of Biological Sciences at LSU. She received her B.S. in both Chemistry and Biology from St. Andrews College in NC and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from East Carolina University School of Medicine. She did her post-doctoral work in Boston studying insulin signaling. Her research has always focused on some aspect of adipocyte biology. She has studied TNF induced insulin resistance, the role of the JAK-STAT pathway in adipocytes, and the activity of several adipocyte transcription factors. She is also actively involved in mentoring young scientists and assistant professors at LSU and at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center where she holds an adjunct appointment. She has been a principal investigator on NIH grants since 1997 and has also been funded by the ADA. She is currently a member of the Integrative Physiology of Obesity and Diabetes NIH study section.

Service to The Obesity Society
Dr. Stephens has actively participated in NAASO, now TOS, by serving on the program committee for three years and acting chair of the committee for the Phoenix meeting. She has served on the Scientific Review Committee for the last four years and is currently a member of the Ethics committee.

Vision for The Obesity Society
Dr. Stephens is committed to basic research and education and in the area of obesity and would like TOS to continue to support junior investigators in the form of grants and mentorship.

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