Money to be used to study obesity in African Americans

		Medicine Nephrology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

Thomas Jefferson University is one of five institutions to receive a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennslvania’s national tobacco settlement.

The Commonwealth grants focused on a specific priority--to develop centers of excellence (COE) to research the prevention and treatment of obesity and its complications, placing emphasis on populations that are at high risk for and/or disproportionately affected by obesity. At Thomas Jefferson University, the grant will fund the creation of the Center of Excellence for Research on Obesity at Thomas Jefferson University.

“The goal of the Jefferson Center of Excellence is to develop knowledge to advance treatments and to reduce racial disparities in obesity and obesity-related medical conditions,” says Bonita Falkner, M.D., principal investigator, and professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. “The research will focus on biomarkers that protect against obesity-related diseases in order to advance the treatments.”

To achieve the overall goal, the COE at Thomas Jefferson University is organized as a collaboration of nationally and regionally established health services in Southeast Pennsylvania, a historically black university in Pennsylvania and an industry partner. The COE includes the participation of Cheney University, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the Health Promotion Council, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity and Beckman Coulter, an industry partner.

The research goal will be accomplished through four objectives:

• Identify a clinical characteristic (or phenotype) of obesity that predicts tissue injury and adverse health outcomes from obesity
• Identify intermediate characteristics or biomarkers (adipokines--proteins produced by fat cells) that mediate or protect against injury
• Identify genes (genetic polymorphisms) that control fat cell secretion of adipokines
• Determine if weight and/or blood pressure reduction in obese adults alters the biomarkers.

A clinic-community intervention program for weight reduction is another component in the COE. The goal of this program is to extend primary care services through lifestyle counselors and then link patients with ongoing weight control activities in their communities.

The COE will also provide health and research training opportunities for Cheney and other University students.

For information, please call 215-503-2502.