“Obesity is the number-one health problem in the United States because it negatively affects our population’s health more than any other condition,” said Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute senior investigator David Arterburn, MD, MPH. Kaiser Permanente Washington researchers are doing practical research to learn how doctors, patients, families, employers, and policymakers can best work together to prevent and treat obesity.
“We’re focusing on three ways to halt the obesity epidemic,” said associate investigator Dori Rosenberg, PhD, MPH. “We’re helping to change obesity-promoting environments, bringing evidence-based prevention and treatment programs into health care systems, and helping people develop lifelong healthy diet and activity habits.”
Kaiser Permanente Washington obesity research areas include:
“Obesity is caused by many factors, so at Kaiser Permanente Washington, we’re working on many levels,” said Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, a senior investigator and Kaiser Permanente Washington’s assistant medical director for preventive care. “We’re improving health care to help people who are obese now. But since obesity is a societal problem, we’re also studying how to change our homes and workplaces and neighborhoods to create more healthy environments.”
Arterburn D, Rukstalis M, Wood C, Westbrook E, Theis K, Daar Z, Still C, Gerhard G. Identification of extreme weight gain among users of atypical antipsychotic medications. Clin Med Res. 2011;9(3-4):160. PubMed
Green BB, Estabrooks P. Assessing the scale-up of a weight loss program: narrowing the gap between research and practice. Am J Prev Med. 2011 Nov;41(5):548-9. PubMed
Simon GE, Arterburn D, Rohde P, Ludman EJ, Linde JA, Operskalski BH, Jeffery RW. Obesity, depression, and health services costs among middle-aged women. J Gen Intern Med. 2011 Nov;26(11):1284-90. Epub 2011 Jun 28. PubMed
Maciejewski ML, Livingston EH, Smith VA, Kavee AL, Kahwati LC, Henderson WG, Arterburn DE. Survival among high-risk patients after bariatric surgery. JAMA. 2011;305(23):2419-26. Epub 2011 Jun 12. PubMed
Arterburn DE, Westbrook EO, Bogart TA, Sepucha KR, Bock SN, Weppner WG. Randomized trial of a video-based patient decision aid for bariatric surgery. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Aug;19(8):1669-75. doi: 10.1038/oby.2011.65. Epub 2011 Apr 7. PubMed
David E. Arterburn, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator; Director, ACT Center |
Allen Cheadle, PhDSenior Investigator, KPWHRI; Senior Research Associate, CCHE |
Dori E. Rosenberg, PhD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Andrea J. Cook, PhDSenior Biostatistics Investigator |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Maricela Cruz, PhDAssistant Biostatistics Investigator |
Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Laurel Hansell, MA, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |