The Pharmacology of Obesity

Barbara Slusher is a Professor of Neurology (primary), Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Medicine, and Oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She also serves as the Director of the Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery, the Vice Director of the Pedersen Brain Science Institute, and the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for the Advancement of HIV Neurotherapeutics (JH CAHN). She has published over 300 scientific articles and is an inventor on over100 patents and applications. Before joining Johns Hopkins, she spent 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including several years at the level of Senior Vice President of Research and Translational Development. She has extensive experience in drug discovery through early clinical development and was involved in the successful development, launch and/or post marketing support of several FDA-approved medicines. In 2010, she joined Johns Hopkins to lead the largest drug discovery program on campus with a veteran team of over 25 medicinal chemists, assay developers, pharmacologists, toxicologists, and pharmacokinetics/drug metabolism experts. The team identifies novel drug targets and translates them into new drug therapies for clinical development. Since joining JHU, she has co-founded four new companies which have amassed over $150M in financing and has partnered four new drug discovery programs with Pharma. She also founded the first International Consortium of Academic Drug Discovery Centers (http://addconsortium.org/) with over 150 university-led translational centers and 1500 members to bring together this growing community. Dr. Slusher received her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College where she graduated valedictorian, majoring in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine while simultaneously earning her Master's degree in Administrative Science from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business (formerly School of Continuing Studies). Diane Peters is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She received her BA in Chemistry, with honors, from Wellesley College, followed by pursuit of a PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from the Tufts University School of Medicine. Subsequently, she earned an MS in laboratory animal medicine as well as a doctorate of veterinary medicine, both granted by the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Peters performed her post-graduate fellowship training in laboratory animal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she further refined research expertise in comparative medicine, translational drug discovery, and animal pharmacology/toxicology.

• 1. Obesity Therapeutic Landscape, Challenges, and Unmet NeedsBarto Buerguera2. Diagnosis and Evaluation of Obesity for Therapeutic SelectionMarcio Griebeler3. When to use First-Generation Anti-Obesity Medications?Barto Buerguera and Marcio Griebeler4. GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in our ClinicsHamlet Gasoyan5. Future Directions in Obesity Pharmacotherapy: Novel Targets and Pipeline TherapiesYael Mauer and Diana Isaacs6. Destigmatizing Obesity: from language to the clinical environmentRicardo Correa7. Role of Nutrition and physical Activity in the Therapy of ObesityDavid Creel8. Behavioral and Lifestyle Strategies in Obesity Management and Post-Bariatric Follow-UpAriela Goldenshluger9. The interpretation of Body-composition Metrics in ObesityRicardo Rosero10. Digital Health, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Wearables in Obesity CarePeminda Cabandugama11. Metabolic Aging and Obesity: how Physiology Changes with AgeWilly Valencia12. Endoscopic Bariatric and Metabolic TherapiesStephen Firkins13. What Patients Could Benefit from Bariatric Surgery?Ricard Corceles