About Our Research

The current focus of the Obesity and Diabetes Clinical Research Section is on examining the determinants of energy intake and energy expenditure, understanding the psychosocial underpinnings of appetitive behaviors, and predictors of dietary intake patterns. Our research section utilizes a number of state-of-the-art approaches and methodologies, including: (1) longitudinal, natural histories of weight change and diabetes risk, (2) clinical inpatient studies that use whole room Indirect calorimeters to measure energy expenditure, (3) ad libitum vending machine paradigms to facilitate in ad libitum feeding studies, (4) biomarker and genetic assays to measure hormonal and genetic mechanisms of metabolism.