Society For Adolescent Medicine To Focus On Adolescent Obesity At Annual Meeting In Greensboro, North Carolina

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Conferences;  Eating Disorders
Article Date: 21 Feb 2008 - 15:00 PDT

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If a child is obese when they hit adolescence, are they destined to be overweight for life? Is gastric bypass surgery for obese adolescents a reasonable option? How can parents work with schools and the community to stem the rising tide of adolescent obesity? Will the almost 25 million American kids and teenagers who are obese make up the first generation to live sicker and die younger than their parents? These questions and others will be addressed at The Society for Adolescent Medicine's (SAM) annual scientific meeting being held in Greensboro, North Carolina, March 26-29, 2008.

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will open the conference and discuss the scope of the adolescent obesity epidemic, its impact on health and on society, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's vision for reversing the epidemic by 2015. Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey is a national leader in transforming America's health systems so young people can live healthier lives and receive the health care they need. In April of 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation pledged $500 million over the next five years to combat childhood obesity in the US - the largest commitment by any foundation to this issue.

Since the announcement, the foundation has focused on improving access to affordable healthy foods and on opportunities for safe physical activity in schools and communities. It has placed special emphasis on reaching children at greatest risk for obesity and related health problems: African American, Latino, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander children living in low-income communities. Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey plans to address SAM members on what they can do to help create environments for children and adolescents that focus on improving access to affordable healthy foods and provide opportunities for safe physical activity in schools and communities.

The keynote speaker for the conference is Kelly Brownell, PhD, MPH, Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University and the Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Dr. Brownell is an internationally known expert on weight control. He has written 13 books and more than 200 research papers and book chapters, and holds appointments on 10 editorial boards. Dr. Brownell will discuss opportunities for addressing obesity clinically, as well as ways for health professionals to become active in changing the broader landscape by arguing for changes in schools, communities and the nation.

The plenary on Treatment of Obesity will review how current treatment (behavioral, pharmacological, and bariatric surgery) strategies tackling adolescent obesity can be implemented. The plenary speakers will be Robert Berkowitz, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Denise Wilfley, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Weight Management and Eating Disorders Program at Washington University, St. Louis; and Thomas Inge, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics and Surgical Director of the Comprehensive Weight Management Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

The plenary on It's Not Either/Or: Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders, will focus on identifying the challenges facing the eating disorder and obesity prevention fields and how to address these issues. The plenary speakers will be Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., MPH, Professor, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; Bryn Austin, Sc.D., Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Children's Hospital Boston; and Alison Field, Sc.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Staff Scientist at Children's Hospital Boston and Associate Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

http://www.adolescenthealth.org