Obesity together with associated poor physical activity and dietary patterns represent, arguably, the major public health challenge in the United States today and for the foreseeable future. Approaches to obesity prevention and treatment in the U.S. have been remarkably narrow. It is clear that dramatic new thinking is required to arrest the obesity epidemic. An effective strategy requires an integrated interdisciplinary approach, which brings together a broad range of scientists and practitioners who specialize in obesity, to train the next generation of researchers. The proposed Inter-Disciplinary Obesity Training program (iDOT) will mentor postdoctoral scholars. The primary aim is to train scholars to work in an interdisciplinary learning and research environment with the goal of defining effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Obesity must be addressed within a complex, individualized system of proximal and distal biological, psychosocial and environmental factors, using an intensive interdisciplinary approach. From this approach, the iDOT program will build on the successful but limited interdisciplinary training efforts at selected UNC-CH centers, and the collaborative research and training environment at the University of North Carolina. Researchers from varied disciplines such as nutrition, epidemiology, health behavior, psychology, urban planning, mass communications, marketing, health economics, physiology, genetics, and clinical medicine will jointly develop and lead this integrated training effort. Trainees will be selected from a range of disciplines and departments, and through integrated core training combined with interdisciplinary seminars, immersion retreats and interdisciplinary research, gain the skills and focus to become the next generation of outstanding interdisciplinary obesity scholars.
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