Steven B. Heymsfield BA, MD

Steven B. Heymsfield, M.D. is the Executive Director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University System and he holds the George A. Bray, Jr. Chair in Nutrition. Previously he was the Global Director of Scientific Affairs for the obesity franchise at Merck & Co. where he oversaw scientific aspects of the Company's obesity drug development program. Dr. Heymsfield received a degree in medicine from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and he completed his internship and residency at Emory University, continuing on to become a Fellow in Medicine prior to his Columbia University appointment as Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director, New York Obesity Research Center, in 1986.

Dr. Heymsfield has published more than 450 peer-reviewed papers covering topics such as obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, malnutrition, pregnancy, body composition, and caloric expenditure. His contributions to the study of human nutrition led to the TOPS Award from NAASO, the Rhoads Award of the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and the Forbes Memorial Award Lecture, International Society of Body Composition Research. He was honored for his role in the FDA ban on ephedra, receiving the 2004 NYC Mayor's Award for Science and Technology. Dr. Heymsfield was elected Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition in 2009 and Fellow of the American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition in 2012a.