More than one-third of adults and 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese. Estimates suggest that obesity now accounts for almost 10 percent of the national health care budget.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will hold a public workshop on Sept. 27 to assess how far the U.S. has come in tackling the obesity epidemic, identify the levers that will drive significant progress in obesity prevention and treatment, and discuss how gaps in the field can be filled.
Speakers include Jeffrey Koplan, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, current U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
An agenda for the workshop is available here. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #ObesitySolutionsRT.
The workshop will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. EDT in the auditorium of the National Academy of Sciences building, 2101 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. Reporters who wish to attend should register in advance with the Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. Those who cannot attend in person may watch a live webcast.