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Division of General Internal Medicine

Obesity Medicine Fellowship

group meeting

Johns Hopkins is home to one of the nation's fellowship training programs in obesity medicine, and is a member of the Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council. The Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship was awarded a coveted Obesity Medicine Fellowship Program Development Grant.

What makes the Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship special?

There are many excellent fellowship programs for physicians planning careers in obesity medicine. We’d like to take this opportunity to tell you what is special about Johns Hopkins Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM) and its Obesity Medicine Fellowship.

Diverse Clinical Training Experiences

The fellowship offers a diverse array of clinical training experiences within obesity medicine. Fellows dedicate patient care time at the Johns Hopkins Healthful Eating, Activity and Weight Program (HEAWP) under the supervision of multiple faculty preceptors certified by the American Board of Obesity Medicine. This experience provides in-depth training in adult obesity medicine, including group visits and management of conditions associated with obesity. In addition, fellows spend time observing and working in other settings key to obesity medicine – including Bariatric Surgery in both the clinic and operating room settings, pediatric obesity medicine at the Mt. Washington Weigh Smart Program, psychological evaluations at the Obesity Behavioral Medicine Program, and minimally invasive procedures. With this variety of training settings, we aim to train future clinical leaders in obesity medicine.

Strong Commitment to Mentorship & Fellowship Community

We take mentorship very seriously at Johns Hopkins. In GIM, mentoring the next generation of leaders in academic medicine is one of our core values, and the Obesity Medicine Fellowship prides itself on having multiple, award-winning obesity medicine faculty to train and mentor fellows. In addition, we understand that having a sense of community with peers is important during training, so obesity medicine fellows participate in regular academic conferences with other fellows in GIM. Fellows learn from others who remember what it was like to first start in an obesity medicine clinic, begin a research project or go on the job market.

Pathway for Academic Obesity Medicine

For interested candidates, the fellowship offers a pathway in clinical research and obesity medicine through a partnership with the Johns Hopkins GIM Fellowship. After completing the first clinically focused year in obesity medicine fellowship, fellows on the clinician-investigator track complete an addition 2-3 year clinical research training in the GIM Fellowship, one of the nation's premier fellowship training programs in academic medicine to prepare individuals to assume faculty and leadership positions in medicine and public health. The GIM fellowship has over 200 alumni who have made their mark as researchers, educators, and leaders. Obesity medicine fellows on the clinician-investigator track have protected time to pursue clinical research training and mentoring while maintaining their clinical practice in obesity medicine at the Johns Hopkins HEAWP.

Robust Research Enterprise

Hopkins GIM has a robust research enterprise which adds up to approximately $36M over the last 8 years – and that doesn’t include grants led by GIM faculty members that go through other schools or centers at Johns Hopkins such as the school of public health. That’s more grant funding than in many entire schools of medicine. This enterprise gives fellows, particularly clinician-investigator track fellows, an unusually broad range of fields, methods, and mentors to choose from during their training.

Program Overview

The Program is one to four years in length and offers two specifically designed tracks, a one-year clinician track and a three to four-year clinician-investigator track. All fellows also have a variety of opportunities to teach residents, medical students or other trainees, as well as participate in research or quality improvement activities. For specific questions, please contact Julie Kurtz, Obesity Medicine Fellowship Coordinator.

We encourage all interested applicants to review the information below:

Fellowship Administration

Zoobia W. Chaudhry, MD

Director, Obesity Medicine Fellowship Program
Email: [email protected]

Julie Kurtz

Obesity Medicine Fellowship Coordinator
Email: [email protected]