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Faculty Awards Presented at the First National Obesity Summit, May 2009

Dr. William F. Colmers

Dr. Colmers is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, and an associate of the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Alberta.  He is also a Medical Scientist with the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, and leads the CIHR team on the Neurobiology of Obesity. Dr. Colmers’ laboratory employs electrophysiological methods and digital imaging of brain slices to study the actions of endogenous neurotransmitters in the central nervous system in vitro. A central focus of the Colmers’ laboratory is to understand the biological role that Neuropeptide Y (NPY) plays in different regions of the brain, in the hopes of determining its role in appetite regulation. The laboratory is also busy with studies on mechanisms of reward, related to the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, and dopaminergic neurons of the reward centers in the ventral striatum, and how these pathways contribute to appetite and metabolism.

Dr. Scott A. Lear

Dr. Lear is an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Biomedical Physiology at SimonFraserUniversity, and a CIHR New Investigator. He leads the Cardiovascular Physiology Lab that investigates cardiac rehabilitation, obesity, lifestyle management, and physical activity. His research focuses on the determinants of obesity and cardiovascular disease in different ethnic populations and the development of novel strategies for the delivery of treatment to patients with cardiovascular disease. His current research project, the Multi-cultural Community Health Assessment Trial (M-CHAT), investigates ethnic differences in the relationship between body composition and the risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in South Asians, Chinese, Whites and Aboriginals. Dr. Lear’s research suggests that men and women of Chinese and South Asian origin have greater amounts of visceral adipose tissue than Europeans for a given body weight: a finding that may explain why these groups are seen to have greater risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease at lower body weights. Currently, the M-CHAT participants are being followed for a five-year period to investigate the longitudinal patterns of body composition changes in these ethnic groups.