From June 20 – 22th, 2016, faculty from the Milken Institute School of Public Health Department of Prevention and Community Health (PCH) participated in a clinical public health summit on obesity for the George Washington University Medical Class of 2018, entitled “How Clinicians Can Help Turn the Tide of Obesity in Washington, D.C.” The summit was led by Bill Dietz, Chair of the Redstone Center, Lawrence Deyton, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Public Health, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences, and Karla Bartholomew, Program Officer for Clinical Public Health and Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Studies at the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
Along with Dietz, who helped lead the summit, PCH faculty Loretta DiPietro, Kim Robien, Monique Turner and Michael Long led and participated in panels and sessions to help inform future doctors on obesity at the individual and population levels, how clinicians can be change agents, and how to work with various populations in a range of non-clinical settings.
In addition, medical students designed and presented interventions to address obesity in pre-schoolers, elementary, middle and high school students, young adults, middle age adults, and women of child-bearing age. The interventions were presented to panels consisting of members of community-based organizations who provided feedback and constructive criticism of the medical students’ plans.