David E. Arterburn, MD, MPH

David Arterburn

“It's critical that we find cost-effective ways to treat obesity while reducing weight bias and stigma. My research examines the long-term effects of behavioral, pharmaceutical, and surgical treatments and promotes shared decision-making between patients and their providers.” 

David Arterburn, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Physician, Washington Permanente Medical Group, Internal Medicine

Biography

David Arterburn, MD, MPH, is a general internist and health services researcher who focuses on finding safe, effective, and non-stigmatizing ways to treat obesity. As an international leader in obesity research, his goal is to help individuals and families make treatment decisions that align with their values while sustaining their health over the long haul.

Dr. Arterburn's research portfolio includes studies of the impact of neighborhood environments on obesity, mindfulness-based interventions for weight loss, obesity pharmacotherapy, the long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery, and implementation of shared decision making tools and processes. He recently led the PCORnet Bariatric Study, a two-year, $4.5 million study comparing the health benefits and safety associated with the main types of bariatric surgery in 41 health systems in the United States. Funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the study’s results give patients and their health care providers the information they need to decide which type of surgery is best for them. In July 2019, PCORI awarded Dr. Arterburn an additional $2.1 million to incorporate these new results into shared decision making at Kaiser Permanente Washington and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Over the past decade, Dr. Arterburn has collaborated with Kaiser Permanente Washington's specialty leadership to implement and evaluate shared decision making with patient decision aids to support elective surgical care. The approach has shown great promise for improving the quality of health care while simultaneously lowering the costs of care in some populations.

Dr. Arterburn collaborates extensively in his research and has federally-funded projects related to obesity and bariatric surgery with investigators at University of Washington (UW), Duke University, Harvard, University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Wake Forest, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Arterburn joined Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in 2006. In recognition of his contributions to science, he has been named an honorary Fellow of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (FASMBS) and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP) and The Obesity Society (FTOS). Dr. Arterburn is past chair of the Adult Obesity Measurement Advisory Panel sponsored by the National Committee on Quality Assurance, founding chair of the Obesity Society's Health Services Research Section, and past chair of the Health Care Systems Research Network's Obesity Special Interest Group. In 2013 he co-chaired the National Institutes of Health Symposium on the Long-Term Outcomes of Bariatric Surgery. He is also an affiliate professor in the UW Department of Medicine.

RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE

Recent publications

Courcoulas AP, Daigle CR, Arterburn DE. Long term outcomes of metabolic/bariatric surgery in adults.  BMJ. 2023;383:e071027. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2022-071027.  PubMed

Ji M, Negriff SL, Slezak JM, Taylor BL, Paz SR, Bhakta BB, Macias M, Arterburn DE, Crawford CL, Drewnowski A, Lewis KH, Moore DD, Murali SB, Young DR, Coleman KJ. Baseline psychosocial, environmental, health, and behavioral correlates of 1- and 3-year weight loss after bariatric surgery. Obes Surg. 2023 Oct;33(10):3198-3205. doi: 10.1007/s11695-023-06791-0. Epub 2023 Aug 23. PubMed

Ehlers AP, Yang J, Thumma J, Howard R, O’Neill S, Arterburn D, Telem DA, Dimick JB. Comparison of safety and healthcare utilization following sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass among medicare beneficiaries using sex as a biologic variable. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2023 Oct;19(10):1119-1126. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2023.04.332. Epub 2023 Apr 29. PubMed

Hung A, Maciejewski ML, Berkowitz TSZ, Arterburn DE, Mitchell JE, Bradley KA, Kimbrel NA, Smith VA. Bariatric surgery and suicide risk in patients with obesity. Ann Surg. 2023 Oct 1;278(4):e760-e765. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005825. Epub 2023 Feb 21. PubMed

Chao GF, Yang J, Thumma J, Chhabra KR, Arterburn DE, Ryan A, Telem DA, Dimick JB. Correction: Volume-outcome relationships for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients in the sleeve gastrectomy era. LID - 10.1007/s00464-022-09849-9 [doi] FAU - Chao, Grace F AU - Chao GF AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-3133-9827  Surg Endosc. 2023 Jan 27. doi: 10.1007/s00464-022-09849-9. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

 

News

Beverage-tax_1col.jpg

Seattle's Sweetened Beverage Tax linked to improved public health outcomes

An evaluation with KPWHRI researchers looked at the impacts of the tax so far.

Live healthy

Bariatric-surgery_ObesityCanada-photo_1col.jpg

Comparing different types of bariatric surgery: What’s right for you?

Based on their studies, KPWHRI researchers explain the risks and benefits. 

M2H study

Weight-gain-residential-relocation_M2H-study_1col.jpg

Can where you move impact future weight gain?

A new study finds that moving from low- to high-density neighborhoods might be related to reductions in weight gain.

Live healthy

Male patient with mask talking with Nurse wearing mask

What is shared decision-making?

An explanation from KPWHRI researchers about discussing treatment options with a medical provider.