Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dates of Funding: 2019-2020
My long-term research career goals include studying novel approaches to personalize obesity treatment using a combination of tools (e.g. nutrition interventions, pharmacotherapy, bariatric surgery) to achieve optimal weight-related health outcomes, and to minimize disparities driven by the social determinants of health and stigma.

Following an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency, I completed a one-year fellowship in pediatric clinical nutrition at the University of Colorado, which provided a broad training experience across the growth and development spectrum (from severe malnutrition to micronutrient deficiency evaluation to acute management of severe obesity comorbidities). I was then was accepted into the University of Colorado’s 3-year NIH T32 Nutrition fellowship (PI: Krebs). After a year working with Dr. Janet Snell-Bergeon in nutritional epidemiology, in August 2017, I transitioned to working with Drs. Richard Boles, Thomas Inge, and Megan Kelsey in the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This transition allowed me to pursue research questions within the patient population that I am most passionate about: adolescents and young adults with severe obesity. This work has included receiving an Investigational New Drug application through the FDA and a 2019-2020 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) pilot & feasibility award to study anti-obesity medications (phentermine and topiramate) among adolescents and young adults who do not achieve adequate risk reduction after bariatric surgery. My ongoing desire to effectively address health disparities, has also led me to pursue a Master in Public Health (MPH) during fellowship. This MPH program has complemented my fellowship training with experiential learning in areas of health behavior theory, health care equity, qualitative methods, and program planning/implementation/evaluation. 

I am interested in conducting clinical trials that evaluate the effects of adjunctive treatments (to lifestyle-based and surgical interventions) for adolescents and young adults with severe obesity, and in particular, the use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. Testable questions that are unanswered in the field of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy among adolescents include: Can anti-obesity medications additively or synergistically augment the effects of bariatric surgery? When in the perioperative timeline is it most effective to use pharmacotherapy? Which medications are best for improving specific obesity co-morbidities before and after surgery? What individual patient and psychosocial characteristics predict a positive response to one agent (or combination) over another? And, how should “success” of anti-obesity medications be defined in pediatrics? To advance my understanding of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy, I attended the Advanced Therapies for Pediatric Obesity Workshop presented by the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Pediatric Weight Management Program in October 2017. And I am currently completing a pharmacogenomics certificate program, to better understand how we may be able to personalize anti-obesity medication regimens. I have created standardized clinical protocols for use of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy for the entire Lifestyle Medicine Program (including the Bariatric Surgery Center). And I am the clinical lead for initiating and monitoring anti-obesity pharmacotherapy before and after bariatric surgery. I recently transitioned to faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nutrition and was hired as the second medical provider within the Bariatric Surgery Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado.