Dr. Nancy Bohannon

Nancy J.V. Bohannon, M.D., completed the Dorothy Frank diabetes clinical research fellowship at UCSF, sponsored by the San Francisco Diabetes Association, prior to becoming an assistant clinical professor at UCSF. She has been a principal investigator on over 70 clinical trials, involving devices and drugs for diabetes, hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia. Currently, Dr. Bohannon is director of clinical research at the cardiovascular risk reduction program at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, California. She continues her full time solo private practice specializing in research in and treatment of diabetes and metabolic disorders in San Francisco, where she has practiced for 30 years. She has published over 70 articles.

Dr. Arthur Frank

Arthur Frank, M.D., has served as the medical director of the George Washington University weight management program since 1991. A specialist in internal medicine, Dr. Frank has concentrated his professional activities on the medical management of adult obesity, the development of related public policy, and the formulation and implementation of a variety of clinical trials studying the problems of weight management and obesity.

Dr. Frank's practice is directed to the issues of human nutrition and the metabolic and psychological factors affecting obesity. He supervises a staff of nutritionists, psychologists, exercise therapists and physicians who work intensively in a multidisciplinary approach to the medical, behavioral and physiologic components of this chronic disease.

Dr. Frank has worked with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and of the New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Frank completed his residency in internal medicine at the Stanford Medical Center where he was also a research fellow in endocrinology and metabolism. Subsequently, he was a research fellow at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Donna Ryan

Dr. Ryan received her medical degree from LSU School of Medicine. She is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. For the past 19 years she has focused on obesity and nutrition and her research interests include many aspects of obesity management and prevention. She is principal investigator of a U.S. Army Military Nutrition Research grant, and a co-principal investigator on a number of trials including the NIDDK Look AHEAD study that addresses weight loss in persons with type 2 diabetes. Her most recent research interest has been practical (or pragmatic) clinical trials to evaluate weight loss in routine medical practice, and she has one study funded by the state insurance company for Louisiana that is ongoing.

Dr. Ryan is the author of over 100 articles on obesity. She is also interested in training primary care physicians to effectively manage obesity and is a frequent participant in continuing education programs targeting improvement of health professionals' skills in obesity management.

Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer

F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, M.D., MPH is professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. At St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center he serves as chief of endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition, and is director of the New York Obesity Research Center. Dr. Pi-Sunyer is also a senior attending physician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

He recently chaired the committee of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that researched and defined the federal government's new guidelines for the prevention and treatment of obesity. He has served as president of the American Diabetes Association, the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. He has been a Fellow of the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, a member of the Institute of Medicine's task forces on medical nutrition therapy and on dietary reference intakes on macronutrients. He served on the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. He is currently a member of the FDA Science Board Advisory Committee.

Dr. Pi-Sunyer has been a member of the American Diabetes Association for over 25 years and served as president (1992-1993) and chaired numerous committees at the national, regional, and local levels. In 1993 he was awarded the Banting Medal for service from the association. He has also served in numerous committees for the American Heart Association, as a member of the Council and Executive Committee of the Council on Nutrition and Physical Activity, and as chair of the obesity committee.

Dr. Pi-Sunyer has written over 300 articles for international peer-reviewed journals and the lay press and has contributed chapters to over 100 medical texts. From 1994 to 2005, he served as the associate editor for the International Journal of Obesity, and from 1995 and 2000 served as editor-in-chief of Obesity Research. He also is a journal referee for 20 other professional journals.

Dr. Tom Wadden

Thomas A. Wadden, Ph.D. is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. He received his A.B. in 1975 from Brown University and his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1981 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Wadden's principal research is on the treatment of obesity by methods that have included lifestyle modification, very-low-calorie diets, exercise, medication, and surgery. He has also investigated the metabolic and psychosocial consequences of obesity and weight loss. He has published over 250 scientific papers and book chapters and has co-edited four books.

Dr. Wadden serves on NIH's Clinical Obesity Research Program (CORP) and on the editorial boards of International Journal of Eating Disorders, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and Obesity Research. He served as president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) in 2006.