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Dr. Peminda K. Cabandugama, a native of Colombo, Sri Lanka, came to the United States in 2003 to go to college at Winona State University in Winona, MN where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors. He completed medical school at St. Georges University in Grenada, West Indies. and then went on to complete an Internal Medicine Residency, including a Chief Residency year, at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center (an Affiliate of NYU Medical Center) in Brooklyn NY.  After that, he completed a fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, MO. Today he holds the position of Assistant Professor and Associate Fellowship Program Director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Kansas City, MO.

Dr. Hussein Elbadawi is an endocrinologist in the department of internal medicine in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University. Dr. Elbadawi completed an internal medicine residency at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington Massachusetts followed by a combined clinical and translational fellowship at Wayne State University in Endocrinology, Diabetes & metabolism. He then joined the faculty as the assistant program director of the endocrinology fellowship program. He is board certified in internal medicine and Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. He is also a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine as well as a certified clinical densitometrist.

He is a clinical assistant professor of medicine and very involved in medical education. He is very passionate about educating the next generation of health care providers about obesity and related metabolic diseases. He has been instrumental in modifying the medical school curriculum to include obesity as a topic introduced early in physiology and pathophysiology courses. He started the Obesity & lipids clinic in the division of endocrinology to train interested residents and fellows to serve a unique underserved obese patient population.

He is affiliated with the Detroit Medical Center, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and Karmanos Cancer Institute where he was recognized as an obesity medicine specialist in addition to his role as an endocrinologist.

Dr. Elbadawi’s research activity revolves around brown adipose tissue and its response to hormones and catecholamines. He is a member of the Obesity Society, The Endocrine Society, The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and The American Thyroid Association. He actively participates in local and institutional programs aiming at raising awareness of local community members to envision obesity as a disease.

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In her current general endocrinology practice, she cares for patients with diabetes, obesity, metabolic bone and calcium disorders, hypogonadism, thyroid, pituitary and adrenal disorders. Prior to her current professional role, she enjoyed working with and teaching endocrinology fellows while on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Dr. Hawkins completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and received her medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.  She completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Dr. Kim completed his internship and residency in medicine at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, IL and was selected as Chief Resident at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, IL. He completed his fellowship training in clinical nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center and additional fellowship training in nutrition and obesity at Boston Medical Center (BMC) in Boston, MA. Dr. Kim is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition.

His current responsibilities include clinical care and teaching in the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at BMC. As a full-time member and attending physician in the BMC clinical nutrition program, Dr. Kim is a part of a multidisciplinary team whose task is to diagnose and treat malnourished and morbidly obese patients with multiple co-morbidities. He leads the Nutrition Support Service team and manages the consults for patients with severe malnutrition, multiple nutritional deficiencies and feeding difficulties. In the Nutrition and Weight Management Center, Dr. Kim evaluates and treats patients with obesity, including management of patients before and after bariatric surgery.

Dr. Holly Lofton started her personal journey of weight loss as a pre-teen when she modified her lifestyle to improve her diet and became more active in sports. She continued to pursue her interest in weight management in her college years at Boston University when she trained as an aerobics instructor. Even during her regimented medical school years at the Medical College of Georgia, she enlisted patients and fellow classmates to lead more active lifestyles and to use nutrition to improve their overall health.

Dr. Lofton continued to investigate the importance of weight loss in prevention and treatment of medical conditions as she completed her Internal Medicine residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She was then hand selected from a pool of many physicians to train at Geisinger Medical Center’s fellowship in Nutrition and Obesity Medicine in Pennsylvania.

It was during that time that Dr. Lofton honed her skills at using evidence based medicine to treat overweight and obesity as well as utilizing nutrition as a component of caring for the whole patient. After completing the fellowship, she scored in the top ten highest amongst physicians who passed the Board Examination for the American Board of Obesity Medicine, and went on to serve as a staff physician and fellowship director at Geisinger.

In recent years, she has served on the bariatric medicine committee for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery as well as on the Advisory Board and Board of Directors for the Obesity Action Coalition, all while training other physicians to become skilled in weight management and nutrition. She also educated the general public about the importance of maintaining a normal weight through lectures, workshops, and a national radio segment.
Dr. Lofton was welcomed into the NYU Langone Weight Management Program in early 2012. In her practice, she combines scientifically proven weight loss techniques with medications and behavior modification to find each patient’s niche. She is currently involved in developing research investigating changes in metabolic rates during and after weight loss.

Dr. Matkovic is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, where she also completed her residency. She is currently working as an Investigative Physician at the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program where her focus is on managing and preventing chronic disease and cancer in this special population.  She is currently a subinvestigator on a clinical trial which is investigating lifestyle intervention to reduce body weight and systemic inflammation among World Trade Center responders with PTSD.

Dr. Marsha Novick is the Medical Director of the Pediatric Multidisciplinary Weight Loss Program at the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. She graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago and completed her residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She is board certified in family medicine and has been a Diplomate of the Board of Obesity Medicine since 2004. Before moving to Central Pennsylvania, Dr. Novick was the Medical Director of the Seacoast Weight & Wellness Center, a weight loss clinic for adults and children in Exeter, New Hampshire. For the last 9 years, she has worked at the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital in the Division of the Pediatric Multidisciplinary Weight Loss Program, teaching medical students and residents about obesity care and helping thousands of obese children, adolescents and their families with weight management. She serves on the Pennsylvania AAP’s Pediatric Obesity Evaluation, Treatment & Prevention in the Community Setting Advisory Committee and the AAP’s Section for Obesity.

Dr. Jennifer Rajkumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine and is employed at the Northwell Health’s Center for Weight Management. She is board certified in Family Medicine and is a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of the Obesity Medicine Association. She received her undergraduate degree from George Mason University and an M.D. at Virginia Commonwealth University prior to completing her residency training in Family Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University’s affiliated Riverside Health System. She is passionate about chronic disease prevention, nutritional and culinary education, and evidence-based treatment of clinical obesity.

Dr. Taraneh Soleymani is an Assistant Professor in University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Nutrition Sciences, Associate Scientist in the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC), and Fellow of The Obesity Society. After completing her Internal Medicine residency at Seton Hall University, Newark, NJ, she completed a fellowship in clinical nutrition at UAB with a focus on obesity and inpatient nutrition in critically ill. Dr. Soleymani practices patient tailored, evidence based, and comprehensive medical management of obesity working alongside bariatric surgeons, dietitians, behaviorists and exercise trainers. She also practices inpatient nutrition at Birmingham VA Medical Center with a focus on malnutrition and parental nutrition.

Dr. Soleymani is the Medical Director of EatRight by UAB and co-director of UAB Weight Loss Medicine where she is involved in developing protocols to ensure quality medical care and operational efficiency and overseeing strategic program developments to achieve optimized obesity care.

Dr. Soleymani is involved in several obesity related multidisciplinary and translational research projects. Her research focus is the effect of diet macro composition on management of chronic diseases related to obesity, and changes in body composition. She is passionate about educating the future healthcare professionals in obesity and its management. She is the course director for UAB School of Medicine elective titled “Obesity, Clinical Nutrition, and Food Policy”. And the course director for two clinical electives: “Clinical Management of Obesity” and “Hospital Nutrition”. Dr. Soleymani is board certified in Internal Medicine and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine.

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Devika Umashanker, MS, MBA, MD, has an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering, Psychology, and Biology from Rutgers University. She worked for Stryker before obtaining her Business degree in Healthcare Management and Finance at the Fox School of Business, Temple University. Dr. Umashanker worked for the Division of Medicare and Medicaid Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield in Philadelphia, PA as a Business Analyst while obtaining her Postbaccalaureate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her medical degree at the American University of the Caribbean, St. Martin. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Yale University and practiced Hospital Medicine for two years. Afterwards, Dr. Umashanker completed her fellowship in Obesity Medicine at the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she trained under the guidance and mentorship of Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP, FTOS, DABOM .

Dr. Umashanker is the Obesity Medicine Director of Medical Weight Management, Department of Bariatric Surgery at Hartford Healthcare, Connecticut. Dr. Umashanker is an Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Assistant Professor at Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.

Dr. Adrienne Youdim is well-recognized for her expertise in the areas of nutrition, obesity medicine and preventative medicine. Formerly the Medical Director of the Cedars Sinai Center for Weight Loss, she has partnered with hundreds of patients helping them achieve their goal of better health through good nutrition. Dr. Youdim specializes in medical weight loss, medical nutritional therapy and nutritional and metabolic support of bariatric surgery patients.

Dr. Youdim is board certified and diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the National Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists and the American Board of Obesity Medicine as well as Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She is currently Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Youdim received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her medical degree from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a well as a fellowship specializing in nutrition and bariatric medicine.

Dr. Youdim has lectured extensively at the local and national level and has served on numerous professional committees and societies including serving as president of the Bariatric Section of the Obesity Society. Her published works include the Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Nutritional and Perioperative Care of the Bariatric Surgery Patient among other publications in peer reviewed journals such as Endocrine Practice, Obesity, Journal of Surgery and Obesity Related Diseases, Journal of Immunology and Bariatric Times. She has also edited several chapters in Nutrition and Obesity.