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Dr. Louis Aronne, a national authority on weight loss and obesity, has been named president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO), the leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity. Dr. Aronne is a clinical professor of medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and serves as director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, a multidisciplinary obesity research and treatment center that he developed and founded in 1986. He has long been an advocate for successful weight management – and the associated health benefits – and has been instrumental in obtaining increased federal funding for obesity research.

"I am honored to have been chosen as president," said Dr. Aronne following the announcement of his appointment at NAASO's recent annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nev. "NAASO members are the leaders in this field, and the exchange of information among researchers and clinicians is very exciting. NAASO is the place for people to learn about obesity research and access the latest information."

Dr. Aronne is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. A member of NAASO since 1987, Dr. Aronne has previously served as vice president and president-elect.

From nutritional counseling to weight-loss drugs to bariatric surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's Comprehensive Weight Control Program provides research and clinical care on the forefront of weight-management medicine and is actively developing new treatments for obesity. The Program's goal is to provide the same kind of cutting-edge medical care for obesity – in a university setting – that is provided for other diseases.

"Treatment of obesity will one day supplant the treatment of other diseases," said Dr. Aronne. "As we improve our understanding of the synergistic cause and effect of obesity, we will simultaneously be addressing a host of other related illnesses from diabetes to heart disease."

Dr. Aronne's previous research has focused on the response of the nervous system to weight loss and weight gain as part of a larger effort to understand how the body regulates energy intake and metabolism, on the development of more effective treatments for obesity, and on the management of drug-induced weight gain.

Dr. Aronne has served as chairman of the development committee for the Practical Guide to the Identification and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, a joint publication of NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and NAASO. He is currently a member of the Executive Council of The National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention's MOVE (Management of Overweight and/or Obese Veterans Everywhere) Program.

Dr. Aronne has lectured widely on obesity, its health consequences, and its treatment to many physician organizations, and is the author of Weigh Less, Live Longer. He is also a highly sought-after media expert on the subjects of obesity, weight-management, and nutrition.

A graduate of Trinity College, Dr. Aronne earned his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and was a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow in General Internal Medicine at what was then Cornell University Medical College and The New York Hospital. He has been the recipient of several awards for teaching during his career, including the Davidoff Prize from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Elliot Hochstein Award from Weill Cornell Medical College. A Fellow of the American College of Physicians, he is a member of many professional societies, including Alpha Omega Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa.

About the North American Association for the Study of Obesity

The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) is a leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity. NAASO is committed to encouraging research on the causes, treatment and prevention of obesity as well as to keeping the scientific community and public informed of new advances in the field. For more information about NAASO and obesity, visit www.naaso.org.