Obesity Assessment Training

Though the current “obesity epidemic” in the United States has received much attention, most physicians have not been trained to deal with the problems of obesity and its consequences and have little knowledge of behavior modification, nutrition, physical activity and weight loss strategies.

With this grant, Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, a leader in the research and treatment of obesity, is developing a program to “train the trainers,” by helping established medical educators to train medical students and residents to deal more effectively with obesity and its consequences. Dr. Pi-Sunyer is chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and nutrition at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center, director of the New York Obesity Research Center and professor of medicine at Columbia University.

His project has several specific goals: to provide educators with training about the assessment and management of obesity and methods of instruction that will help them train medical students and residents; to create a cadre of educators who will continue to train physicians-in-training about strategies for the prevention and management of obesity; to prepare case studies and monographs with examples of complicated cases involving obese patients; and to create a program-designed to become self-sustaining— to raise national awareness about the problems of obesity and the risks associated with excess weight.

Eight three-day sessions, to be conducted at the Obesity Research Center, are planned for the three-year grant period. Approximately 15 physician educators from family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics and gynecology will participate in each session. The program is beginning with physician educators from hospitals in the New York metropolitan area, then branching out to other hospitals in the Northeast. The interdisciplinary faculty for the training sessions will include physicians, a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist.

In all, the eight sessions are intended to reach 120 physician educators. The program is designed to become self-sufficient by the fourth year, when it will offer the training on a fee-for-service basis. The Obesity Research Center intends to publish the curriculum developed for physician education on obesity and to develop five monographs/case studies to augment the education program, and to help generate income needed to make the program self-sustaining.