USF obesity conference arms health practitioners with best ways to help patients battle the bulge

"Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in our country. It's associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic problems that result in public health costs of nearly $100 billion a year," said Conference Director Duane Eichler, PhD, USF professor of biochemistry and molecular biology who studies the genetics of obesity. "There is no single, magic bullet solution. Our aim is to give health providers some evidence-based practical approaches to prevent and treat obesity in adults and children."

Assistant Surgeon General Woody Kessel, MD, MPH, will kick off the program with a keynote address titled "Overview of the Obesity Epidemic in Our Society."

Speakers will include exercise physiologist Melinda Sothern, PhD, director of the Prevention of Childhood Obesity Laboratory at Louisiana State University. She will talk about the effect of exercise on metabolism and treating overweight children. Dr. Sothern and colleagues developed the Trim Kids Program, a multidisciplinary team approach program for preventing and treating childhood obesity that has been featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, 48 Hours and in USA Today and elsewhere. Bonita Sorensen, MD, deputy state health officer, will discuss Florida Department of Health's program to control the state's obesity epidemic, particularly in rural northwest counties, where more than half the residents are overweight.

For the first time, a pre-conference workshop will be offered to health practitioners interested in developing new skills to help their patients lose weight and learn to keep it off. A second workshop will teach interviewing techniques for motivating patients and their families to consider weight loss.

For more information on the conference, please call (813)974-4296, or (800)852-5362.