Education and Training

The Obesity Medicine Clinical Fellowship is a one-year Advanced Subspecialty Fellowship available to trainees who have completed a previous subspecialty fellowship. The Fellowship has been designed to provide trainees with expertise and clinically relevant experience in the emerging field of obesity medicine, with a primary focus on the evaluation and management of patients with obesity. Fellows will learn how to treat patients with obesity by nutritional, behavioral, pharmacological and surgical means. Additionally, trainees will become knowledgeable about how to effectively address the comorbidities of this disease.

Trainees will spend time in the clinical environment of the Mass General Weight Center learning about obesity, its comorbidities and clinical nutrition.

Graduates will have an advanced understanding of the physiology of body weight regulation and the complexities of this disease. Physicians who have completed the fellowship have continued on to pursue clinical and academic careers focused in obesity medicine and have become leaders in this emerging discipline.

The Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine has provided healthcare professionals across disciplines with the latest evidence-based tools and knowledge to optimize the care of patients with obesity for more than 28 years.

This course is designed to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge to:

• Approach and assess adult and pediatric patients with obesity
• Identify, evaluate and manage patients with high-risk obesity
• Provide lifestyle-based therapies for obesity, including nutritional, physical activity and behavioral approaches
• Use current and emerging pharmacological treatments for obesity
• Apply effective counseling and behavior modification techniques
• Manage the post-operative bariatric patient

This annual program, which takes place in late spring, includes didactic lectures, case-based discussions, workshops and panel presentations focused on the prevention and treatment of obesity and related disorders. Physicians from across disciplines hear from leading authorities in obesity medicine, surgery, pediatrics, endocrinology, nutrition and behavioral medicine.

The course also includes a focused Board Review component, taught by recent diplomates of the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM), to prepare participants for the ABOM Certification Examination in Obesity Medicine.

For more information and to register, please visit Harvard's Continuing Medical Education website.