Obesity, Diabetes and Wellness Featured by Northern Colorado Health Research Coalition

Obesity, diabetes and wellness research will be discussed at the November meeting of the Northern Colorado Health Research Coalition. The meeting, which runs from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Fort Collins Hilton, is free and open to the public.

Speakers are Richard Hamman, professor and chairman of the Department of Preventative Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Virginia Englert, coordinator for CanDo, the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity; and Michael Pagliassotti, professor and Lillian Fountain Smith Endowed Chair in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State.

Hamman is an epidemiologist with expertise in insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes in youth and adults. He has chaired numerous studies including a study of environmental factors in predisposition for diabetes among Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites and a study that demonstrated a relationship between insulin resistance and the progress of vascular disease. He also helped develop a study of weight loss and progression of atherosclerosis among adults with type 2 diabetes. He is a major co-investigator on a study developing a national registry and follow-up study of youth with diabetes.

Englert is an expert in dietetics and health promotion. She was a nutrition and weight management education educator for Poudre Valley Health System employees through a worksite health promotion program. She was recently named coordinator for CanDo, the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity. CanDo is a community-based coalition in Fort Collins with the goal of improving the health of residents through healthy eating, active living and obesity prevention strategies.

Pagliassotti’s research interests focus on liver impairments associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Among his current projects, Pagliassotti is studying the effects of nutrients on insulin action in the liver, mechanisms of disease progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the role of the endoplasmic reticulum as a nutrient-sensing organelle.

The Northern Colorado Health Research Coalition is a partnership of Colorado State University, Poudre Valley Health System and the Colorado BioScience Association. The coalition focuses on enhancing opportunities for local health-related research.

More information about this meeting is available at http://vpr.colostate.edu/. Those wishing to attend should RSVP at (970) 237-7400.

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