Recently the RCP appointed three obesity fellows. For World Obesity Day, they share their stories (below) about what motivated them to be involved. They are due to start in their role as obesity fellows later this year.Novo Nordisk has provided financial support by way of a grant to fund the RCP obesity fellows. Novo Nordisk have had no involvement with or input into the development of the content and have had no influence over the selection of candidates.
Dr Oluwaseun Anyiam
I became interested in obesity during a 12-month diabetes teaching fellowship in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, which I undertook around the time the landmark DiRECT study was being conducted. I would occasionally see patients who had been involved in the study in clinic, and had the privilege of observing first-hand the effect of their impressive weight loss and diabetes remission on their general health and wellbeing. I subsequently had the amazing opportunity to work as a National Institute for Health and Care Research academic clinical fellow at Imperial College London, where I was involved in research involving gut hormones, very-low calorie diets and bariatric surgery. I am currently studying a PhD investigating the effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists and very-low calorie diets on skeletal muscle in people living with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
I applied to this fellowship as I believed it would provide me with a fantastic opportunity to consolidate the knowledge acquired from my research into obesity and obtain a more in-depth understanding of the clinical aspect of obesity medicine. I look forward to getting involved in weight management clinics, learning from experienced obesity physicians, and taking any opportunities to develop the weight management service further. I am confident that this fellowship will give me a strong foundation upon which I can build a successful career in obesity medicine. Looking further into the future, I hope to continue researching how to enhance existing weight loss strategies, and potentially develop novel methods of weight management. Furthermore, I am very keen to explore how to remove barriers to accessing weight management services, so that all individuals living with obesity can receive the help that they require, without the threat of resistance or stigma.
Dr Christo Albor
Coming from a pre-clinical background in public health, I have always wanted to help reduce health inequalities. A big share of the morbidity and mortality resulting from health inequalities is linked to obesity. As such, a lot of my time during my PhD was spent addressing the point that obesity is not simply a product of poor choices, or part of a culture of poverty, but the result of a complex interaction between societal stressors and polygenic predisposition. Through the same lens I have an academic interest in the psychosocial impacts on metabolic, endocrine and cardiovascular dysfunction.
Skip forward a few years, and now I find myself training as a registrar in endocrinology and diabetes. This has brought me much closer to addressing obesity and metabolism at an individual level with my patients in clinic and on the wards. I am thrilled to be selected as one of the RCP obesity fellows, as the fellowship will step things up a notch, giving me close mentorship and sub-specialist training to become an independent clinician in the field of obesity. At the same time, it will allow me to enhance my academic skillset through the development of treatments in clinical trials and post-marketing research.
In future, I hope to become part of the team of clinicians working to expand NHS obesity medical services, an expansion that is much needed in the midst of a growing obesity problem. The horizon looks promising with the burgeoning field of pharmacotherapy. Combining improvement in access to obesity treatments – with advocacy for people with obesity, such as by removing the disconnect between the science and the public perception of obesity – there is a real chance that we can improve lives and reduce health inequalities.
Dr Luke Boyle
I’m absolutely delighted to have been appointed as an RCP obesity fellow, and very excited to get started later this year.
I was fortunate to discover my interest in obesity at an early stage of my career, and pursued this during an intercalated public health MSc. I then entered academic foundation training in Liverpool and chose obesity as my programme theme. I further developed my interest by attending the European Congress on Obesity and World Obesity Federation ‘SCOPE’ Schools. I undertook a research training fellowship in Edinburgh focusing on glucocorticoid signalling in obesity, before becoming a specialist registrar in London.
I applied because diabetes and endocrinology specialty training curricula provide only basic training in obesity, whereas this fellowship offers a unique opportunity to gain a broad range of structured training in obesity medicine. As the current RCP chief registrar for medicine at Imperial, I prioritise culture change. I want to continue this work by educating colleagues in recognising obesity as a chronic, relapsing condition rather than simply a risk factor.
From this fellowship I hope to gain knowledge and practical clinical experience of managing people with severe obesity, and pursue my research interests during what is an exciting era in obesity pharmacotherapy. I’m confident that the fellowship will provide me with the tools needed to lead the development of the new weight management services we need.
As an aspiring obesity physician, I want to deliver high-quality, holistic patient care in an expert team after completing my training. At present people living with obesity in the UK are underserved, in terms of access to services for support and new drugs. Having been active in medico-politics, I will advocate for them by engaging with decision-makers when it comes to funding treatments and commissioning services. We know that weight stigma is pervasive throughout society, even among healthcare professionals. I’ll do whatever I can to challenge this in my future roles.