“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:
“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.”
Barthold D, Brouwer E, Barton LJ, Arterburn DE, Basu A, Courcoulas A, Crawford CL, Fedorka PN, Fischer H, Kim BB, Mun EC, Murali SB, Reynolds K, Yoon TK, Zane RE, Coleman KJ. Minimum threshold of bariatric surgical weight loss for initial diabetes remission. Diabetes Care. 2021 Sep 13:dc210714. doi: 10.2337/dc21-0714. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Arterburn D, Lewis KH. Different risks and benefits leading to similar costs after sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2122541. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.22541. PubMed
Chao GF, Yang J, Thumma J, Chhabra KR, Arterburn DE, Ryan A, Telem DA, Dimick JB. Volume-outcome relationships for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients in the sleeve gastrectomy era. Surg Endosc. 2021 Sep 1. doi: 10.1007/s00464-021-08705-6. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Buszkiewicz JH, Bobb JF, Kapos F, Hurvitz PM, Arterburn D, Moudon AV, Cook A, Mooney SJ, Cruz M, Gupta S, Lozano P, Rosenberg DE, Theis MK, Anau J, Drewnowski A. Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021 Aug 27. doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-00937-9. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Greenwood-Hickman MA, Walker R, Bellettiere J, LaCroix AZ, Kim B, Wing D, Richmire K, Crane PK, Larson EB, Rosenberg DE. Associations between perceived neighborhood walkability and device-based physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns in older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2021 Aug 13:1-9. doi: 10.1123/japa.2020-0387. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
![]() David E. Arterburn, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Allen Cheadle, PhDSenior Investigator, KPWHRI; Senior Research Associate, CCHE |
![]() Dori E. Rosenberg, PhD, MPHAssociate Investigator |
![]() Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Andrea J. Cook, PhDSenior Biostatistics Investigator |
![]() Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Maricela Cruz, PhDAssistant Biostatistics Investigator |
![]() Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
![]() Laurel Hansell, MA, MPHCollaborative Scientist |
![]() Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |