Framework

We plan to engage researchers from vantages such as nutrition, epidemiology, health behavior, urban planning, health economics, physiology, psychology, genetics, and clinical medicine to develop the Inter-Disciplinary Obesity Center (IDOC). The IDOC will include leading scholars organized in seven overlapping topical program areas who will meet on a regular basis to develop a common language, identify needs, and design and plan specific research projects to achieve the aims of the grant.

As this figure shows, many factors at the national, state, community, family, clinical, and individual levels affect energy imbalance and obesity. While obesity is ultimately a physiological process, many factors at each level are important, and must be linked to achieve our goals. Few countries have been successful in arresting or reversing the obesity epidemic in large populations.