2025 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture: Lifestyle Modification and the New Anti-Obesity Medications - What's the Cornerstone of Treatment Now? and Student Awards

Chair(s)

• CM

  Catia Martins, PhD, RD (she/her/hers)

  Associate Professor
  Nutrition Sciences Research
  The University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Speaker(s)

• 

  Thomas Wadden, PhD

  Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry
  University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

  Disclosure(s): Eli Lilly: Grant/Research Support (Terminated)
  Novo Nordisk: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
  Weight Watchers: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Terminated, October 14, 2024)

Presenting Author(s)

• 

  Busayo Oladun, BS, MS

  Doctoral Student
  Arizona State University
  Phoenix, Arizona, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Nadine Veasley, B.S. (she/her/hers)

  Doctoral Student
  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  Urbana, Illinois, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

The George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research is presented to a physician, clinician or investigator who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the field of obesity research. This award is designed to recognize an individual whose lifetime body of work includes meaningful contributions and/or demonstration of highly original, sustained, and reproducible scholarship that has made major contributions to the understanding of the causes, treatment and/or prevention of obesity. This award is endowed by Dr. George A. Bray and his wife, Marilyn M. Bray. Additionally, the George Bray Obesity Research Student Awards recipients will present about their research during this session.

Presentations:

• 10:00 AM - 10:05 AM ET

  Welcome and Introductions - 2025 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture and Student Awards
  

  Chair: Catia Martins, PhD, RD (she/her/hers) – The University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 10:05 AM - 10:45 AM ET

  2025 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture: Lifestyle Modification and the New Anti-Obesity Medications - What's the Cornerstone of Treatment Now?
  

  Speaker: Thomas Wadden, PhD – University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
• 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM ET

  Panel Discussions / Questions and Answers - 2025 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture: Lifestyle Modification and the New Anti-Obesity Medications - What's the Cornerstone of Treatment Now?
  

  Chair: Catia Martins, PhD, RD (she/her/hers) – The University of Alabama at Birmingham

  Speaker: Thomas Wadden, PhD – University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
• 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM ET

  Fiber’s Utilization for Energy and Life (FUEL): A Randomized, Controlled Feeding Trial Assessing Metabolizable Energy of the Diet With and Without High Fiber Cereal
  

  Presenting Author: Nadine M. Veasley, B.S. (she/her/hers) – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: Patricia Massae Oba – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: Maggie Oleksiak – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: David Revilla – University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: Olivia R. Swanson – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: Kelly S. Swanson, PhD (he/him/his) – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Co-Author: Hannah D. Holscher, PhD, RD (she/her/hers) – University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM ET

  Hypothalamic JMJD3-Mediated Epigenetic Regulation of Leptin Signaling Attenuates High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity
  

  Presenting Author: Busayo T. Oladun, BS, MS – Arizona State University

  Co-Author: Min-Hyun Kim, PhD (he/him/his) – Arizona State University