9th Annual Canadian Obesity Network Obesity Research Bootcamp



CON Bootcamp 2014As regular readers will be well aware, each year I attend the Canadian Obesity Network’s Obesity Research Bootcamp, an intense 10-day course for hand-picked young obesity researchers from Canada and around the world.

This year the trainees from Canada (13), Germany (8), Argentina (3), Chile (1), Malaysia (2), Peru (1), Spain (1), USA (1) come from a wide range of research areas – from molecular genetics to health psychology.

Following the opening address by Philip Sherman, Director of the Canadian Institutes of Heath Institute for Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (CIHR-INMD), the course began yesterday with small-group learning sessions on defining and measuring obesity (Ian Jannsen, Queen’s University), weight bias and discrimination (Mary Forhan, University of Alberta), mental health issues (Valerie Taylor, University of Toronto), and energy balance (Eric Ducet, University of Ottawa).

These were complemented by presentations from the trainees on their own work and journal-club style discussion of key papers on relevant issues.

Not least, the camp also encourages networking and discussions that push the trainees to remarkably broaden their perspective on obesity.

I certainly look forward to an intense week at bootcamp.

@DrSharma
Kananaskis, AB