Training the Next Generation of Innovative and Collaborative Patient-Oriented Researchers to Reduce Obesity and Improve Cardiometabolic Health

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT My career focuses on research, clinical, and translational efforts to improve lifestyle treatment for obesity. Obesity is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease (CVD), accelerated by the current epidemic of highly palatable energy dense food, reduced physical activity, and insufficient sleep. While weight loss can reduce CVDrisk, sustaining weight loss is a major challenge for most individuals with obesity. It is imperative to identify innovative and evidence-based strategies to promote greater and more durable weight loss. My collaborative research program focuses on understanding predictors of successful weight loss maintenance and translating those findings into strategies to improve lifestyle weight management programs. Specifically, I develop and evaluate novel weight loss interventions, focusing on alterations of the timing or pattern of energy intake and physical activity (PA). My studies involve rigorous, objective measures of free-living energy expenditure and energy intake, and multi-disciplinary collaborations to comprehensively assess potential biologic, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental predictors of treatment response. Collectively, these studies provide a framework and wealth of data for trainees to perform hypothesis-driven patient-oriented research (POR). I am deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of innovative, collaborative clinical researchers to reduce obesity and cardiometabolic disease risk. I have 8 years of mentoring experience supporting new and early- stage clinical investigators in POR (undergraduate, graduate, and medical students; MD and PhD post-doctoral research fellows; and junior faculty). My mentees have an excellent record of publication productivity, NIH grant funding, successful career transitions, and retention in academic medicine. The K24 Mid-Career Investigator Award will provide dedicated time for me to deliver focused mentorship to junior clinical investigators of exceptional potential and capitalize on the outstanding mentoring, research, and training resources of our campus. I will pursue leadership and administrative training, as well as develop multidisciplinary collaborations to enhance my knowledge and skills in sleep/circadian physiology and qualitative methodology to extend the breadth and reach of my obesity treatment POR program. I have assembled an experienced team of senior clinical researchers with extensive mentorship experience and leadership roles in clinical and research training programs on campus to serve as a K24 Advisory Committee to guide me during the K24 award period. My specific aims are to 1) Mentor junior clinical investigators to create a pipeline of well-trained patient-oriented researchers focused on obesity, nutrition, PA, and sleep, and 2) Build and enhance my collaborative research program designed to rigorously evaluate strategies involving alterations of the timing or pattern of behaviors (diet, PA, and sleep) to develop more effective lifestyle interventions to treat obesity, reduce cardiometabolic disease, and improve health. As a dedicated physician-scientist, I am well-positioned to enhance the quality and breadth of POR in weight management and CVD risk reduction and become a national leader in this field.