During my residency at Boston City Hospital, I became interested in how best to ensure that health goals are met in all children. After serving as chief resident, I took a position as a general pediatrician based at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. I was inspired by the research and advocacy work the Division of General Pediatrics was doing on poverty-related health disparities. As a clinician and educator at Bellevue beginning in the early 1990s, I noticed that the rates of obesity were rising among my patients, even for infants and young children. During my training I had learned more about poor growth and failure to thrive than excess weight gain, especially in younger children. So I began to think about why this was happening, and what we could do about it.

I learned that what I was seeing in my practice was part of a national trend of rising obesity, leading to increases in related health problems of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and that it was also associated with other disparities related to poverty. With colleagues and mentors at NYU Langone, I developed one of the first obesity prevention programs to begin in pregnancy and infancy. For the past 15 years, I have run a research lab developing and expanding this program, which has enrolled over a thousand pregnant women and mothers. We have found that early prevention during the critical first thousand days (pregnancy through children aged 2) can lead to lasting improvements in lifestyle, diet, and weight outcomes. My work in obesity prevention and cardiovascular health promotion has been funded by the USDA, the NIH, and private foundations.

In addition to my prevention work, I realized the need for comprehensive, compassionate treatment for children and families living with obesity and nutrition-related health problems. I developed one of the first child/adolescent interdisciplinary weight management programs in the NYC Health + Hospitals system, and two years ago began a program for adolescents at NYU Langone. Both programs offer nutrition and lifestyle support, medications, and surgical approaches. I am passionate about providing supportive, nonstigmatizing care for one of the most common and difficult health problems families face.