TARRYTOWN, NY--(Marketwire - February 22, 2011) - The Center for Medical Weight Loss, the largest network of non-surgical medical weight loss providers in the US, today announced the creation of a scientific advisory board. Comprised of individuals respected in the health and weight management fields, the newly formed board will provide The Center for Medical Weight Loss (CMWL) with advice on publication of the organization's new study and expertise on structuring future research. The board's first meeting occurred on February 18.
"We are tremendously privileged to have such a talented and respected group pledge their dedication to our mission: empowering physicians to help patients fight obesity," said Dr. Michael Kaplan, founder and chief medical officer of The Center for Medical Weight Loss. "We look forward to working with the advisory board and applying their deep knowledge to our organization."
The advisory board will help CMWL publish a recently completed multi-site effectiveness study of its program. The board will also provide insight into the most efficient ways to structure data collection for future longer term weight loss studies based on programs and proprietary doctor/patient counseling modules. The Center for Medical Weight Loss and the advisory board will also collaborate to design research that demonstrates the frequently observed long-term health benefits of its plan after its patients lose weight and maintain their weight loss.
Inaugural advisory board members include:
Eric Ravussin, PhD., a Douglas L. Gordon chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There, he is also the director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center and Professor in Human Physiology. Dr. Ravussin is an internationally-recognized translational investigator in obesity and diabetes research. He has presented at many obesity and diabetes conferences around the world. He received his PhD. from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
John Paul Foreyt, PhD., a nationally recognized expert on how lifestyle and behavior affect obesity. Dr. Foreyt has served as principal investigator on major research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health on diet and weight loss. He currently serves as a professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Collin EM Brathwaite, MD chief of the Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery and director of the Bariatric Surgery Program at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York. Dr. Brathwaite served as a surgical consultant to the New York State Health Department and New York Health Plan Association in the development of bariatric surgery guidelines for the state of New York. Dr. Brathwaite graduated from Howard University College of Medicine with his M.D.
Carl J. Seiden, founder and president of Seiden Pharmaceutical Strategies, LLC, which provides strategic consulting services to biopharmaceutical companies and institutional investors. From 1992 to 2006 he was a pharmaceutical industry analyst including positions at UBS, JPMorgan and Sanford Bernstein. He was regularly ranked as among the best analysts on the Street by both investors and industry executives. Mr. Seiden holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a B.S. in biology from Union College.
Medically supervised weight loss enables a person to safely lose weight under the care of a board-certified physician. Patients typically see their doctor once a week in a one-on-one session that includes an assessment of related health conditions (e.g. diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.), discussion of body composition, counsel on behavior modification -- including nutrition and fitness -- and adjustments of necessary prescription medications to promote weight loss.
More on the Center for Medical Weight Loss
The Center for Medical Weight Loss empowers physicians to help patients fight obesity. The four-year-old organization is the largest network of non-surgical medical weight loss providers in the U.S. The company offers effective, customized weight loss treatments administered exclusively by doctors and based on a proprietary program developed by Dr. Michael Kaplan, who is board-certified in internal medicine and bariatric medicine (the specialty dealing with weight and metabolism). The Center for Medical Weight Loss has more than 420 board-certified physicians in its network, covering 46 states. For more information, visit www.centerformedicalweightloss.com