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Dr. Kavitha Selvaraj is a pediatric weight management specialist trained in clinical medicine, research, teaching, and advocacy. As a pediatrician, her career goal is to promote trauma-informed obesity care in order to reduce toxic stress and improve children’s long-term cardiometabolic and emotional health.

She obtained her Bachelor’s degree with honors in biology from the University of Chicago, during which time she volunteered as a state-certified rape and domestic violence crisis counselor on the south and west sides of Chicago. After college, she taught 7^th grade biology and health in an underserved neighborhood through Teach for America in Los Angeles, where she earned a Master of Arts degree in Secondary Science Education from Loyola Marymount University. She returned to Chicago to complete medical school at the University of Chicago and her pediatrics residency at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She recently completed her fellowship and chief fellowship in Academic General Pediatrics and Primary Care at Lurie, where she also served as an Instructor of Pediatrics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Northwestern. She is a double board-certified attending physician in pediatrics and obesity medicine with clinical experience in Lurie’s Wellness and Weight Management Clinic, Preventive Cardiology Clinic, Primary Care Clinic, and Inpatient Service. Her research involves screening for adverse childhood experiences and social determinants of health in the pediatric primary care setting, as well as improving quality of care for children with severe obesity attending subspecialty clinics.

Dr. Siegel attended the New York University School of Medicine and did his pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He has 30 years of experience as a general pediatrician and has been the Medical Director of the Center for Better Health and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center since 2009. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati.

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.

Kimberley E. Steele, MD, PhD, FACS, FASMBS completed her surgical residency at Hershey Penn State University from 2000 to 2005 and her minimally invasive and bariatric surgical fellowship at Johns Hopkins 2005-2006. She is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She has a secondary appointment as an Associate Professor in Heath, Science and Behavior, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Steele represents the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and is actively involved in the organization serving on both the research and pediatric surgery committees. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Dr. Steele received a KL2 NIH award and Clinician Scientist Award in 2011, which allowed her to study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she obtained a PhD in the Graduate Training in Clinical Investigation. She is recognized nationally and internationally for her research in obesity and bariatric surgery. More specifically her research interests include the neural correlates of feeding behavior, the influence of the gut on the brain, and improvement of surgical outcomes through the optimization of perioperative care.

Dr. Steele contributes in all facets of academia including clinical expertise, research and education.

Dr. Cherie Lisa Vaz is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Temple University, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia where she practices Endocrinology and Obesity Medicine. Dr. Vaz has been involved in obesity and diabetes research since she began her fellowship in Endocrinology at The State University of New York, Buffalo in 2011. She currently conducts clinical and translational research at Temple University in the fields of obesity, type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Dr. Vaz received the 2015 Obesity Medicine Grant Award supported by the Obesity Treatment Foundation. Dr. Vaz’s research involves lifestyle modification and technology for the prevention and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.Her research also studies neurocognitive function and neuroinflammation in vulnerable populations with type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Nationally, Dr. Vaz serves on American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Endocrine Training Support Committee and AACE Technology Committee. She is also an abstract reviewer for the AACE National Meetings and has authored chapters in publications of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Dr. Vaz is board certified in Obesity Medicine, Endocrinology and Internal Medicine. As faculty for the School of Medicine at Temple University, she mentors students and residents with an interest in Endocrinology or Obesity Medicine. She provides comprehensive didactics on the topics of obesity and type 2 diabetes as part of the medical school curriculum, in depth pathophysiology courses in Endocrinology and core curriculum lectures for the Endocrinology fellowship program.

Dr. William Yancy is a board-certified internist and diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1991 and his medical degree from East Carolina University in 1995. He was a resident and Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh from 1995-1999. He completed a fellowship in General Medicine at Duke University, earning a Master in Health Sciences Degree in 2001. Dr. Yancy is Director of the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center, physician in the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University. He is also a Research Scientist in the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Staff Physician in Ambulatory Care, and Co-director of the MOVE! Weight Management program at the Durham VA Medical Center.