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Welcoming and Introductory Remarks

David Allison, Ph.D.

Dr. David B. Allison received his Ph.D. from Hofstra University in 1990. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a second post-doctoral fellowship at the NIH-funded New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center. He was a research scientist at the NY Obesity Research Center and Associate Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons until 2001. He became Dean and Provost Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington in 2017. Prior he was Distinguished Professor, Quetelet Endowed Professor, and Director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

His research interests include obesity and nutrition, quantitative genetics, clinical trials, statistical and research methodology, and research rigor and integrity.

Kevin Fontaine, Ph.D.

Dr. Kevin Fontaine’s obesity-related research has focused on the association of obesity to mortality, clinical obesity treatment, relation of obesity to cancer screening and preventive care, and the quality of life among obese persons. He has also conducted hundreds of intervention groups with overweight and obese adults to promote lifestyle changes.

His other research has focused on the role of lifestyle physical activity in improving health status, symptoms, and body composition in adults with and without chronic disease. Recent interests include the role of low carbohydrate diets on preserving lean mass during weight loss among older adults, the effects of ketogenic diets on type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s, and cancer, neuro-dynamic strain in chronic fatigue syndrome, and the effects of non-deceptive placebos to improve patient-reported outcomes such as pain and fatigue. Dr. Fontaine serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has nearly 30 years of experience conducting obesity-related lifestyle modification trials, serving as PI, Co-PI, co-Investigator or interventionist on numerous private foundation and NIH grants.

Andrew Brown, Ph.D.

Dr. Brown conducts “research on research” through qualitative and quantitative research summaries, characterizing reporting practices that may contribute to scientific misinformation, and evaluating methodological and statistical choices that may result in ambiguous or misinterpreted results. Such efforts are applied through post-publication review activities, in which the team identifies and corrects errors in published literature, as well as creating tutorial and instructive articles to encourage stronger research practices going forward. Formally trained in nutrition, biochemistry, and statistics, Dr. Brown has conducted research using simulation, in vitro, ex vivo, animal, observational, and intervention models. He has received local, regional, and national awards and spoken internationally about integrity in research and science communication, particularly with respect to nutrition and obesity.

Dr. Brown is a Fellow of The Obesity Society and has served in leadership roles with the American Society for Nutrition, The Obesity Society, and the American Public Health Association. His work has been funded through various stakeholders, including Alliance for Potato Research & Education, American Egg Board, Center for Open Science, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Hass Avocado Board, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Sloan Foundation, and multiple NIH institutes (NHLBI, NIA, NIDDK, NIGMS, and NLM).

Pre-readings

Could Ice Cream Possibly be Good for You - The Atlantic

Video Lecture

Lecture Slides

Introductory Remarks: Seeking Firm Ground in the Mire