“We’re looking for innovative ways to both treat and prevent obesity—including creating healthier environments and designing programs for whole families.”

David Arterburn, MD, MPH
Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Senior Investigator
Washington Permanente Medical Group, Internal Medicine

Research overview

“Obesity is the number-one health problem in the United States because it negatively affects our population’s health more than any other condition,” said Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute senior investigator David Arterburn, MD, MPH. Kaiser Permanente Washington researchers are doing practical research to learn how doctors, patients, families, employers, and policymakers can best work together to prevent and treat obesity.

“We’re focusing on three ways to halt the obesity epidemic,” said associate investigator Dori Rosenberg, PhD, MPH. “We’re helping to change obesity-promoting environments, bringing evidence-based prevention and treatment programs into health care systems, and helping people develop lifelong healthy diet and activity habits.”

Kaiser Permanente Washington obesity research areas include:

  • reducing sedentary behavior and promoting physical activity and healthy diet in various age groups, populations with chronic conditions, and families;
  • shared decision making to help patients find the best way to a healthy weight;
  • implementing health coaches in primary care to support behavior changes;
  • social networks that support lifestyle change programs;
  • relationships between medications and genetic factors in developing obesity;
  • health system, community, and national policies that address obesity;
  • relationships between obesity and depression, diabetes, and other conditions; and
  • long-term benefits and risks of bariatric (weight loss) surgery.

“Obesity is caused by many factors, so at Kaiser Permanente Washington, we’re working on many levels,” said Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, a senior investigator and Kaiser Permanente Washington’s assistant medical director for preventive care. “We’re improving health care to help people who are obese now. But since obesity is a societal problem, we’re also studying how to change our homes and workplaces and neighborhoods to create more healthy environments.”

Recent publications on Obesity

Turcot V, Lu Y, Highland HM, Schurmann C, Justice AE, Fine RS, Bradfield JP, Esko T, Giri A, Graff M, Hendricks AE, Karaderi T, Lempradl AM, Locke AE, Mahajan A, Manning AK, Marouli E, Medina-Gomez C, Reiner AP, Sivapalaratnam S, Winkler TW, Young KL, Alfred T, Feitosa MF, Masca NGD, Mudgal P, Ng MCY, Vedantam S, Willems SM, Abecasis G, Alam DS, Alharthi SE, Allison M, Amouyel P, Asselbergs FW, Auer PL, Balkau B, Bang LE, Barroso I, Bastarache L, Benn M, Bergmann S, Bielak LF, Blüher M, Boehnke M, Boeing H, Boerwinkle E, Böger CA, Bork-Jensen J, Bots ML, Bottinger EP, Bowden DW, Brandslund I, Breen G, Brilliant MH, Broer L, Brumat M, Burt AA, Butterworth AS, Campbell PT, Cappellani S, Carey DJ, Catamo E, Caulfield MJ, Chambers JC, Chasman DI, Chen YDI, Chowdhury R, Christensen C, Chu AY, Cocca M, Collins FS, Cook JP, Corley J, Galbany JC, Cox AJ, Crosslin DS, Cuellar-Partida G, D'Eustacchio A, Danesh J, Davies G, de Bakker PIW, de Groot MCH, de Mutsert R, Deary IJ, Dedoussis G, Demerath EW, den Heijer M, den Hollander AI, den Ruijter HM, Dennis JG, Denny JC, Di Angelantonio E, Drenos F, Du M, Dubé MP, Dunning AM, Easton DF, Edwards TL, Ellinor PT, Elliott P, Evangelou E, Farmaki AE, Farooqi IS, Faul JD, Fauser S, Feng S, Ferrannini E, Ferrieres J, Florez JC, Ford I, Fornage M, Franco OH, Franks PW, Friedrich N, Frikke-Schmidt R, Gan W, Gandin I, Gasparini P, Gibson J, Giedraitis V, Gjesing AP, Gordon-Larsen P, Gorski M, Grabe HJ, Grant SFA, Grarup N, Griffiths HL, Grove ML, Gudnason V, Guo X, Gustafsson S, Haessler J, Hakonarson H, Hammerschlag AR, Hansen T, Harris KM, Harris TB, Hattersley AT, Have CT, Hayward C, He L, Heard-Costa NL, Heath AC, Heid IM, Helgeland Ø, Hernesniemi J, Hewitt AW, Holmen OL, Hovingh GK, Howson JMM, Hu Y, Huang PL, Huffman JE, Ikram MA, Ingelsson E, Jackson AU, Jansson JH, Jarvik GP, Jensen GB, Jia Y, Johansson S, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Jukema JW, Kahali B, Kahn RS, Kähönen M, Kamstrup PR, Kanoni S, Kaprio J, Karaleftheri M, Kardia SLR, Karpe F, Kathiresan S, Kee F, Kim E, Kitajima H, Kluivers KB, Komulainen P, Kooner JS, Kooperberg C, Korhonen T, Kovacs P, Kuivaniemi H, Kutalik Z, Kuulasmaa K, Kuusisto J, Laaksom M, Lakka TA, Lamparter D, Lange EM, Lange LA, Langenberg C, Larson EB, Lee NR, Lehtimäki T, Lewis CE, Li X, Li J, Li-Gao R, Lin H, Lin KH, Lin LA, Lin X, Lind L, Lindström J, Linneberg A, Liu CT, Liu DJ, Liu Y, Lo KS, Lophatananon A, Lotery AJ, Loukola A, Luan J, Lubitz SA, Lyytikäinen LP, Männistö S, Marenne G, Mazul AL, McCarthy MI, McKean-Cowdin R, Medland SE, Meidtner K, Mihailov E, Milani L, Mistry V, Mitchell P, Mohlke KL, Moilanen L, Moitry M, Montgomery GW, Mook-Kanamori DO, Moore C, Mori TA, Morris AD, Morris AP, Müller-Nurasyid M, Munroe PB, Nalls MA, Narisu N, Nelson CP, Neville M, Nielsen SF, Nikus K, Njølstad PR, Nordestgaard BG, Nyholt DR, O'Connel JR, Loohuis LMO, Ophoff RA, Owen KR, Packard CJ, Padmanabhan S, Palmer CNA, Palmer ND, Pasterkamp G, Patel AP, Pattie A, Pedersen O, Peissig PL, Peloso GM, Pennell CE, Perola M, Perry JA, Perry JRB, Pers TH, Person TN, Peters A, Petersen ERB, Peyser PA, Pirie A, Polasek O, Polderman TJ, Posthuma D, Puolijoki H, Raitakari OT, Rasheed A, Rauramaa R, Reilly DF, Renström F, Rheinberger M, Ridker PM, Rioux JD, Rivas MA, Roberts DJ, Robertson NR, Robino A, Rolandsson O, Rotter JI, Igor Rudan, Ruth KS, Saleheen D, Salomaa V, Samani NJ, Sapkota SY, Sattar N, Schoen RE, Scholte SH, Schreiner PJ, Schulze MB, Scott RA, Segura-Lepe MP, Shah S, Sheu WHH, Sim X, Slater AJ, Small KS, Smith AV, Southam L, Spector TD, Speliotes EK, Starr JM, Stefansson K, Steinthorsdottir V, Stirrups KE, Strauch K, Stringham HM, Stumvoll M, Sun L, Surendran P, Swift AJ, Tada H, Tansey KE, Tardif JC, Taylor KD, Teumer A, Thompson DJ, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Thuesen BH, Tönjes A, Tromp G, Trompet S, Tsafantakis E, Tuomilehto J, Tybjaerg-Hansen A, Tyrer JP, Uher R, Uitterlinden AG, Uusitupa M, van der Laan SW, van Duijn CM, van Leeuwen N, van Setten J, Vanhala M, Varbo A, Varga TV, Varma R, Velez Edwards DR, Vermeulen SH, Veronesi G, Vestergaard H, Vitart V, Vogt TF, Völker U, Vuckovic D, Wagenknecht LE, Walker M, Wallentin L, Wang F, Wang CA, Wang S, Wang Y, Ware EB, Wareham NJ, Warren HR, Waterworth DM, Wessel J, White HD, Willer CJ, Wilson JG, Witte DR, Wood AR, Wu Y, Yaghootkar H, Yao J, Yao P, Yerges-Armstrong LM, Young R, Zeggini E, Zhan X, Zhang W, Zhao JH, Zhao W, Zhao W, Zhou W, Zondervan KT, CHD Exome+ Consortium, EPIC-CVD Consortium, ExomeBP Consortium, Global Lipids Genetic Consortium, GoT2D Genes Consortium, InterAct, INTERVAL Study, ReproGen Consortium, T2D-Genes Consortium, The MAGIC Investigators, Understanding Society Scientific Group, Pospisilik JA, Rivadeneira F, Borecki IB, Deloukas P, Frayling TM, Lettre G, North KE, Lindgren CM, Hirschhorn JN, Loos RJF. Protein-altering variants associated with body mass index implicate pathways that control energy intake and expenditure underpinning obesity. Nat Genet. 2018 Jan;50(1):26-41. doi: 10.1038/s41588-017-0011-x. Epub 2017 Dec 22. PubMed

Schauer DP, Feigelson HS, Koebnick C, Caan B, Weinmann S, Leonard AC, Powers JD, Yenumula PR, Arterburn DE. Association between weight loss and the risk of cancer after bariatric surgery.  Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017;25 Suppl 2:S52-S57. doi: 10.1002/oby.22002.  PubMed

Kim DD, Arterburn DE, Sullivan SD, Basu A. Association between the publication of clinical evidence and the use of bariatric surgery. Obes Surg. 2017 Oct 30. doi: 10.1007/s11695-017-2990-1. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Schauer DP, Feigelson HS, Koebnick C, Caan B, Weinmann S, Leonard AC, Powers JD, Yenumula PR, Arterburn DE. Bariatric surgery and the risk of cancer in a large multisite cohort. Ann Surg. 2019 Jan;269(1):95-101. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002525. PubMed

Banerjee S, Garrison LP Jr, Flum DR, Arterburn DE. Cost and health care utilization implications of bariatric surgery versus intensive lifestyle and medical intervention for type 2 diabetes. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017 Jul 19. doi: 10.1002/oby.21927. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Researchers in Obesity

David E. Arterburn, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator
206-287-4610
David.E.Arterburn@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Paula Lozano, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator; Director, ACT Center
206-287-2113
Paula.Lozano@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Allen Cheadle, PhD

Senior Investigator, KPWHRI; Senior Research Associate, CCHE
206-287-4391
Allen.D.Cheadle@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Dori E. Rosenberg, PhD, MPH

Senior Scientific Investigator
206-287-2532
Dori.E.Rosenberg@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator
206-287-2979
Gregory.E.Simon@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Andrea J. Cook, PhD

Senior Biostatistics Investigator
206-287-4257
Andrea.J.Cook@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator
206-287-2997
Bev.B.Green@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Maricela Cruz, PhD

Assistant Biostatistics Investigator
206-287-2878
Maricela.F.Cruz@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, MPH

Collaborative Scientist
(206) 287-2908
Mikael.Anne.Greenwood-Hickman@kp.org

Laurel Hansell, MA, MPH

Collaborative Scientist
laurel.d.hansell@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPH

Principal Collaborative Scientist
Nicole.M.Gatto@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)