Course on obesity will explore the science behind the headlines
Each day brings new headlines about the growing epidemic of obesity. Two thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and the rates of childhood obesity are skyrocketing. The human and medical costs are enormous. Is it due to genetics? Hormones? Or is it the fault of our eating and exercise habits? Is food an addiction? What role does the food, entertainment or transportation industries play? What about new treatments? Is the Atkins diet safe? Can I lose weight with exercise alone? Why aren’t there more medications? Should everyone have surgery?
These questions and more will be the focus of a new six-week community education course, beginning Wednesday, February 9, 2005, as part of the UCSF Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). The course is taught by UCSF faculty from the departments of pediatrics, medicine, surgery, psychiatry, nutrition and integrative medicine, and co-sponsored by the new UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment (COAST).
Classes will meet from 7 to 8:45 pm on Wednesdays at UCSF, 513 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco. Tuition for each course is $85. To register, visit Life Long Learning or call (415) 476-2557.
FEBRUARY 9—UNDERSTANDING OBESITY: FROM BENCH TO BEDSIDE—Alka M. Kanaya, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
FEBRUARY 16—LIFE STRESS, EATING AND BODY FAT—Elissa S. Epel, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry
FEBRUARY 23—CURRENT ISSUES IN PEDIATRIC OBESITY—Robert H. Lustig, MD, professor of pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology; director, Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program, and Andrea Garber PhD RD, assistant adjunct professor of pediatrics
MARCH 2—DIETARY APPROACHES TO WEIGHT LOSS: STATE OF THE ART—Carol Porter, PhD, RD, associate adjunct professor of pediatrics; director, Nutrition & Food Services
MARCH 9—EXERCISE AND OBESITY: GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE—Ellen F. Hughes, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine; director of education, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
MARCH 16—MEDICATIONS AND SURGERY FOR OBESITY: ARE THEY REALLY THE ANSWERS?
—Robert B. Baron, MD, MS, UCSF professor of medicine, director, UCSF Weight Management Program, and Andrew M. Posselt, MD, assistant professor of surgery
UCSF Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is a community education program for adult learners sponsored by the UCSF Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, the UCSF Medical Center, the UCSF Public Affairs Department and the University of California Academic Geriatric Resource Program. The program is supported in party by a grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation.