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Finalists chosen in Pennington search

BATON ROUGE – Dec. 14, 2009 – Three internationally known obesity scientists on Monday were named finalists to become the new Executive Director of the LSU System’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC).

Meeting at PBRC in Baton Rouge, the 15-member search committee unanimously selected Dr. James Hill, Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver; Dr. Steven Heymsfield, Global Director for Scientific Affairs and Obesity at Merck & Company; and Dr. Samuel Klein, Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.  All three names were submitted to LSU System President, Dr. John V. Lombardi, who will make a final recommendation to the LSU Board of Supervisors.

“As expected, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center attracted the interest of a significant number of outstanding nominees and candidates for the Executive Directorship,” said Dr. Lombardi.  “After extensive review, the search committee has recommended three exceptional individuals for further consideration.  It is a tribute to the accomplishments of the leadership, the faculty, and the support constituency of the PBRC that we have the good fortune to be able to engage these exceptional individuals.”

 Dr. Donna Ryan, search committee chair and newly-elected president of The Obesity Society, echoed Lombardi’s sentiments, saying some of the “best and brightest names” in obesity research were among the 13 candidates for the position. “We were astonished with the quality of the applicants,” she said, adding, “We would be happy with any one of the three.”

“I think it’s thrilling to have candidates of this caliber to consider,” said Baton Rouge business executive John Noland, a member of the search committee and past chairman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation.

All three finalists have conducted wide-ranging research and collectively published hundreds of academic journal articles on nutrition, metabolism and obesity. Over the span of their careers, they also were awarded millions of dollars in research grants from the National Institutes of Health and performed both as  administrators and scientists.

Dr. Hill, along with his duties as head of nutrition research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is also a professor of pediatrics and medicine.  Like his fellow PBRC finalists, Dr. Hill has written and lectured extensively on the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular disease.   He is the author or co-author of nearly 400 journal articles and book chapters and a member of the editorial boards for three academic journals that focus on nutrition and obesity research.

Dr. Heymsfield, who heads Merck’s obesity drug development, is a former professor at both the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He has authored or co-authored 429 original or peer-reviewed articles and 114 book chapters.  In addition, he is the former director of the Human Body Composition Laboratory and Weight Control Unit at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

Dr. Klein, meanwhile, on top of his responsibilities as a nutrition professor, is the director of the Washington University Center of Excellence in Obesity, the Center for Applied Research Sciences, and the Longer Life Center.  His research has focused on metabolism and the effects of diet, exercise, and age on obesity along with the clinical impact of various treatments used to combat weight gain.

Background materials on the PRBC finalists can be found here.

Contact:
Charles Zewe, PhD, LSU System Vice President for Communication, 225-578-3941 (czewe@lsu.edu).

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