Carrying the TORCH for Obesity

Yesterday, I presented a seminar on the challenges of obesity management to the trainees of the TORCH (TomorrOw's Research Cardiovascular Health professionals) program.

TORCH is an integrated program at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary with the mission to prepare Canada's next generation of transdisciplinary cardiovascular health research leaders. TORCH trainees come from diverse areas ranging from basic sciences to medicine and surgery.

The TORCH Program was born from an initiative by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to encourage transdisciplinary, integrative health research and to build capacity of the Canadian health research community through the development of researchers and the provision of sustained support for scientific careers in health research.

While it was evident from some of the questions that prior knowledge on obesity varied considerably amongst the participants, this was easily made up for by their interest and enthusiasm for the topic.

Clearly, the next generation of cardiovascular health researchers will benefit from greater insights into the psychosocial and biomedical causes and consequences of obesity.

I am grateful to Gary Lopaschuk (Program Director) and his colleagues for the opportunity to speak to these leaders of tomorrow.

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta