Transforming Obesity Clinical Management

Professor Barber is a Consultant Endocrinologist and Professor of Endocrinology at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust and the University of Warwick. Prof Barber leads the obesity service at UHCW and has extensive experience and expertise in the management of obesity and related metabolic and endocrine conditions across the entire treatment landscape. Prof Barber has innovated and implemented with his team key digital strategies for obesity management, including ‘W8 buddy’ which has been officially recognized by NICE for use within Tier 3 settings throughout the NHS. Prof Barber has a focus on clinical research into obesity and metabolic health, and has published 163 papers in the field, h-index 48, over 10,500 citations, and was recently recognized by Scholar GPS as a highly ranked scholar in the field of obesity, placing him in the top 0.05% of scholars, and ranked number 37 in the world. Prof Barber is editor in chief for the peer reviewed journal, Expert Review in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Prof Barber regularly engages with national media on topics relating to obesity and metabolism, regularly presents as an invited speaker at national scientific meetings, and is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Obesity.

A clinical-academic specialist Dietitian in the field of obesity and type 2 diabetes working at the Leicester Diabetes Centre (University of Leicester). I lead the evaluation of the local obesity service trialing the use of new GLP1-RA pharmacotherapies and holistic multidisciplinary care in patients living with severe obesity and complex comorbidities. I investigate ways of optimising weight loss by preserving lean mass for diabetes remission in minority ethnic populations through a randomised controlled trial design. I have a particular interest in measuring how weight loss affects physiological and metabolic health in people living with type 2 diabetes and obesity. 

Irena is WM Nurse Specialist and Independent Prescriber at Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset NHS FT. She initiates and follows up patients on injectable weight loss medications and has established clinics for genetic testing for Obesity. 

Irena is involved in research projects to improve service delivery, using real world data from clinical practice.

She sat on NICE MTAC as a specialist committee member for early value assessment: digital technologies for providing specialist weight-management service. She is a member of the National Obesity Database Steering Group. 

Irena has extensive nursing career in variety of acute clinical settings. She has made successful contribution to clinical research leading on COVID and diabetes trials and was a lead research nurse on STEP 1 trial, which aimed to assess the effect and safety of Semaglutide 2.4 mg once weekly in subjects with overweight or obesity. Despite being the smallest site in UK, their team had one of the best retention rates in the country and Irena was asked to share their success on international level. 

Irena recently wrote and had published by NICE, an inspiring case-study. It focusses on Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which pioneered the use of liraglutide in early 2021 and provides an overview of how injectable anti-obesity medications are being integrated into specialist weight management services, particularly for individuals with complex needs. The case study underscores the importance of tailored care, adequate staffing, and the integration of genetic insights in managing obesity, especially among individuals with complex needs and can be read in detail here >>

Dr Catherine Homer is an Associate Professor of Obesity and Public Health in the Physical Activity, Wellness and Public Health research group based in the School of Sport and Physical Activity, Sheffield Hallam University. Catherine is the Healthy and Active 100 research theme lead in the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), Deputy Editor of the Journal Perspectives in Public Health and the Yorkshire and Humber and the Public Health Specialist Research Lead for the NIHR Research Delivery Network.  Catherine an expert in public health and obesity with 20+ years' research and practice experience as a Public Health Specialist in a NHS Trust and Local Authority. Catherine has over 60 peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings on qualitative health evaluations of paediatric/adolescent obesity, experiences of bariatric surgery, and fuel poverty health risks (old and cold) and on research grants worth over £7.4m as PI/Co-I. Catherine has strong collaborations with external partners and academic institutions and is currently PI on a £1.5m NIHR HS&DR funded (2024-26) project 'ENHANCE - Evaluating the NHS England12 Complications of Excess weight clinics for children and young people' led by academics from five universities and two hospital trusts. Catherine is also Co-I on a £5m NIHR PHR project Doncaster Health Determinants Research Collaboration (2022-2027).

Louisa Ells is Professor of Obesity, and Co-Director of the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett University. She is a registered public health nutritionist and Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, with a specialist interest in multi-disciplinary, cross-sector applied obesity research that is founded in the voice of lived experience. Her research focuses on obesity related public health, service evaluation, inequalities, and disordered eating, delivered using systematic reviewing, mixed method, coproduction and person-centred approaches. She is a passionate advocate of the patient voice and cofounded the Obesity Voices Hub, which is a dedicated public and patient involvement and engagement hub to raise the voice of lived experience in obesity policy, practice and research. She has worked on grants with a total income exceeding £11 million (over £4million as principal investigator), and has published over 115 peer reviewed manuscripts and 12 government reports. She is currently joint principal investigator of the ENHANCE study.

Dimitri Pournaras graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and undertook all his postgraduate training in the UK. He was awarded Research Fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England to conduct research on obesity, diabetes and metabolic surgery.  He completed his PhD in the Department of Investigative Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London and then trained in all aspects of laparoscopic oesophagogastric surgery in Cambridge and Norwich. Following a Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Fellowship approved by the Royal College of Surgeons, he was appointed as a Consultant in Bristol where he works as part of a multidisciplinary team.  He is on the editorial board of journals Obesity Surgery and Clinical Obesity and has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications, including articles in the Lancet, the Annals of Surgery, the British Journal of Surgery and the British Medical Journal. He delivers more than 10 invited international lectures every year.