Obesity-Related Clinical Research and Trials

Clinical Studies

Center for Healthy Weight researchers perform clinical studies to better understand the causes of obesity in children and adolescents, and their medical, social and economic consequences. Our researchers explore the factors that put individuals or groups at increased risk or protect them from obesity and its complications. Other studies identify new targets for prevention or treatment.

Our researchers include:

  • Physicians – a person licensed to practice medicine
  • Nutritionists – helps with the choice of foods a person eats and drinks
  • Exercise physiologists – asks a patient to exercise to analyze, improve and maintain the patient’s health, disease and wellness
  • Psychologists – diagnoses and treats diseases of the brain, emotional disturbance and behavior problems
  • Epidemiologists – studies why a disease is absent or present in a certain population
  • Economists – researches and forecasts how the economy might change
  • Statisticians – collects, analyzes, interprets and presents data

They utilize data collected from our own patients as well as local, regional, national and international datasets.

These studies provide critical information for:

  • Health care providers
  • Public health professionals
  • Families
  • Policymakers at all levels

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials test whether particular treatments are effective, which individuals respond to one treatment over another, and why. The Center for Healthy Weight coordinates clinical trials to help find the most effective drug (pharmacological), behavioral, nutritional and surgical treatments for obesity and obesity-related complications in children and adolescents. Some of the ongoing trials combine these different approaches.

The Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital provide patients with access to state-of-the-art obesity treatment programs in a monitored setting through these clinical trials. Information about clinical trials can be found at http://clinicaltrials.stanford.edu.