Weight management program at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center's mission is to promote healthier lives through nutritional research and preventive medicine. The process begins with basic research on food and nutrients at the laboratory bench.

Findings are tested in the kitchen or applied to human volunteers in a clinical setting. Results are ultimately shared with scientists and spread to consumers through educational programs and commercial applications.

The Center's vision was conceived by oilman and philanthropist C.B. "Doc" Pennington. His $125 million gift to Louisiana State University in 1980 provided the resources to put the design in motion. "Doc" Pennington's dream is now pursued in a core research complex that spans an area the size of five football fields.

Opened in 1988, the Pennington Center houses 40 research laboratories and their support facilities, inpatient and outpatient clinics, a research kitchen, an administrative area, and more than $15 million in technologically advanced equipment. Expansions to the Center include the world-class C.B. Pennington Jr. Conference Center, a residence apartments for visiting scientists, and an exercise and fitness facility.

More than 350 physicians, scientists, and support personnel focus their research efforts on four key areas: nutritional physiology and metabolism; molecular and cellular nutrition, nutrition and behavior and nutritional epidemiology.

The Center is led by Dr. Claude Bouchard, formerly of the Université Laval in Canada, who specializes in studies of the genetic and molecular basis of obesity.

Funding is provided by the State of Louisiana and grants and contracts from such sources as the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Defense, and private industry.

More information can be found at http://pbrc.edu

George A. Bray, M.D.,

George A. Bray, M.D., graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated magna cum laude with a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Bray was Executive Director and Professor of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center from 1989 to 1999. He is continuing his academic and research work as a Professor of Medicine. Prior to coming to the Pennington Center, Dr. Bray was Professor of Medicine and of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Southern California and Chief of Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, at the Los Angeles County General Hospital in Los Angeles. He also previously served as Nutrition Coordinator in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C.; as Director and Professor of Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California. He served as a member of the Board of Regents, American College of Physicians; National Advisory Council, National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Disease; and the Diet and Health Committee of the National Research Council. He was a consultant on dietary fat and on obesity to the World Health Organization.

Dr. Bray has received many honors and awards and is Principal Investigator on four NIH grants including one MERIT Award. He has authored or co-authored over 400 publications in such journals as Obesity Research, the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Clinical Investigation, the International Journal of Obesity, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, The New England Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. His two most recent books are the Handbook of Obesity and Contemporary Diagnosis and Management of Obesity, both published in 1998.

Donna Ryan, MD

Dr. Donna Ryan is a native of Louisiana and a graduate of LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. Following an early career combining medical oncology and academic administration as Vice Chancellor of Clinical Affairs at LSU Medical Center, Dr. Ryan came to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in 1988 as Associate Executive Director for Clinical Research. Dr. Ryan's chief research interest is in the pharmacotherapy of obesity. She has published the Pennington experience using sibutramine for weight loss and weight loss maintenance, as well as echocardiographic studies of valvular regurgitation following exposure to fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine. Dr. Ryan has also participated in feeding studies evaluating the health benefits of fish oil supplements. She is the Principal Investigator of a U.S. Army grant, " Military Nutrition Research: Eight Tasks to Address Medical Factors Limiting Soldier Effectiveness."

Send comments or questions to
C.O.R.E. Program Director Dr. Holly Wyatt.