2023 Symposium Keynote Speakers

THIRD ANNUAL OI SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS

 

February 10, 2023

Andrea Richardson is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Andrea Richardson, PhD, MPH

Dr. Andrea Richardson is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research focus is nutrition epidemiology and encompasses the social and biological risk factors that underlie obesity throughout the life course. Through her work in the health research field, she developed a broad knowledge base in population-based and clinical research. Her research interests include the underlying mechanisms between environment (built and social), behaviors, biology (genetics), and health disparities. She is particularly motivated to address neighborhood (dis)investment, social injustice, and racial inequity impact on health in racial/ethnic minority populations. Richardson has strong statistical skills and publication history in peer-reviewed journals. Her expertise includes complex longitudinal and structural equation modeling to link environmental determinants to obesity disparities in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Richardson received her Ph.D. in nutrition epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her M.P.H. in epidemiology from Emory University, and her B.S. in math from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Creasy is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at the University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus.

Seth Creasy, PhD

Dr. Creasy is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at the University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus. He is currently funded by an NIH Career Development Award focused on understanding how patterns of physical activity, sleep, and food intake behaviors are related to long-term weight loss.  As part of that award, he is receiving training in doubly labeled water methodology as well as advanced methods for analyzing physical activity data.

He hopes that one day his research will make an impact on clinical and public health recommendations for weight management. Until then, he hopes his research will help one participant at a time.

Dr. Kathryn Ross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and in the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration in the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

Kathryn M. Ross, PhD, MPH

Dr. Kathryn Ross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and in the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida. Dr. Ross’ research focuses on the prevention and treatment of adult obesity, with particular emphasis on improving the long-term maintenance of weight loss and developing effective behavioral weight management interventions that can be disseminated on a public-health level. Increasingly, she has begun to investigate the integration of newer technology into weight management interventions as a way of lowering cost of treatment delivery and increasing intervention reach.

Dr. Paton is an associate professor in Food Science and Technology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Georgia.

Chad Paton, PhD

Dr. Paton is an associate professor in Food Science and Technology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Georgia. His research is focused on the bioactive properties of two specific lipids: Dihydrosterculic acid (DHSA) and linoleic acid. DHSA is a cyclopropene fatty acid that is found naturally in cottonseed oil and it blocks endogenous lipid synthesis and cholesterol biogenesis. Dr. Paton is actively pursuing methods to assess its ability to treat hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in animal and human models. His work in the bioactive properties of linoleic acid has centered on its role in modulating skeletal muscle myogenesis and mitochondrial biogenesis. As a long-chain omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, it promotes transcriptional activity via nuclear receptor-DNA interactions and more recently I have found that its ability to induce angiopoietin-like protein 4 production in muscle significantly impairs the capacity for muscle differentiation and metabolic function. The purpose of his research is to help restore normal metabolic function in disease states using molecular biology and biochemistry to understand how macronutrient metabolism is regulated in cell and animal models. For more information, visit the Biochemistry of Metabolism Laboratory.