Dr. Scott Kahan
State Medical License: Maryland and District of Columbia
Medical Residency: John Hopkins
Board Certification: Clinical Nutrition, Preventive Medicine, Obesity Medicine
Scott Kahan, M.D., M.P.H. is a physician trained in both clinical medicine and public health. His clinical practice specializes in weight management and obesity medicine, and serves as Director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, a multidisciplinary obesity treatment clinic in Washington, DC. In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Kahan also works as a public health physician specializing in obesity treatment and prevention. He serves as the Director for the George Washington University-based Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (S.T.O.P.) Obesity Alliance, a coalition of more than 70 organizations that drive innovative and practical strategies to address obesity.
He received his undergraduate degree in bioengineering from Columbia University, his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and his Master’s of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Kahan serves on the Faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine and School of Public Health & Health Services, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He teaches several courses on obesity, nutrition, public health, and health behavior change to medical students, graduate students, and undergraduate students. He created and teaches the first course devoted to obesity and nutrition at the George Washington University School of Medicine, as well as the first undergraduate course devoted to obesity at Johns Hopkins University. He has served as the Co-Director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program and the Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, as well as core faculty of the Johns Hopkins Preventive Medicine Residency Program.
He has published 14 books in the fields of medicine, nutrition, and public health, and is the Editor-in-Chief of a series of medical texts that have been published internationally and translated into nine foreign languages. He co-authored a nutrition handbook for physicians, which is distributed free-of-charge to medical students in North America. His upcoming textbook, to be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2014, is titled Health Behavior Change in Populations: The State of the Evidence and Roles for Key Stakeholders. He serves as a scientific peer-reviewer for more than 20 academic journals and research organizations. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Kahan has received numerous awards, including the Patients’ Choice award, and has been rated as the #1 Preventive Medicine physician in Washington, D.C. by rateMDs.com.
Dr. Kahan has advised the White House, U.S House of Representatives, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and numerous national and local advocacy groups and public health initiatives pertaining to obesity, nutrition, and chronic disease prevention. He is also a columnist for The Huffington Post and has written articles in numerous newspapers and scientific journals. He often speaks at professional and public conferences and events, and is regular contributor to national and local media outlets, including New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, PBS, CBS radio, Fox News, Men’s Health, Self Magazine, The Atlantic, U.S. News and World Report, L.A. Times, and others.
