For immediate release: June 14, 2007
Contact: Anne McMillin
Public Relations Specialist
775-682-6594
amcmillin@medicine.nevada.edu
School of Medicine’s Jeff Angermann, Ph.D. receives grant for studying obesity in young adults
Trust Fund for Public Health bestows $220,812 grant
RENO, Nev.– Jeff Angermann, Ph.D., adjunct clinical faculty member at the University of Nevada Student Health Center and post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, received a two-year grant of more than $200,000 from the State Trust Fund for Public Health to study obesity in young adults between the ages of 18 and 24.
The study’s goals are to measure the prevalence of obese and overweight patients visiting the University’s Student Health Center as well as the medical school’s Family Medicine Center, and investigate if either brief advice from a physician or a metabolically determined exercise program can help patients lose weight.
According to the study’s proposal, 70 percent of men and 49 percent of women nationwide were either overweight or obese in 2004, while in Nevada, 60 percent of the population was classified as overweight. The 18- to 24-year-old age group has had the highest increase in obesity of any age group over the past few years while seeing the highest increase in physical inactivity during their leisure time.
“It’s our hope that the findings from this study will lead to better health outcomes for our state,” says Angermann. “The study will provide insight into how physicians can better help patients manage overweight and obesity.”
Angermann will serve as the study’s principal investigator and will be assisted by co-investigators Andrew Pasternak, M.D., assistant clinical professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine; Carol Scott, M.D., assistant medical director at the University of Nevada Student Health Center; and Catherine McCarthy, M.D., assistant professor of family and community medicine.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational, and clinical needs since 1969. The School of Medicine encompasses 16 clinical medical education departments, including Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as well as ten nationally-recognized departments within basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. As the largest multi-specialty healthcare focus within the state, the School of Medicine employs more than 185 doctors who both teach and practice medicine throughout Nevada. The school’s statewide faculty physician practice group has a combined 25 different medical specialties with seven physician practice offices located in the Reno-Sparks area and five physician offices located in Las Vegas.
The University of Nevada School of Medicine utilizes a best-practice approach to medicine and is committed to addressing the health needs of Nevada now and in the future. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.
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