Dr. Steven Heymsfield Global Director, Scientific Affairs, Merck & Co, USA

Steven B. Heymsfield, MD, is Global Director of Scientific Affairs for the obesity franchise at Merck & Co. In this capacity he oversees scientific aspects of the company's obesity drug development program. Dr. Heymsfield received a degree in medicine from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and he completed his internship... read moreand residency at Emory University, continuing on to become a Fellow in Medicine prior to his Columbia University appointments in 1986. Dr. Heymsfield has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers covering topics such as obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, malnutrition, pregnancy, body composition, and caloric expenditure. His contributions to the study of human nutrition led to the TOPS Award from NAASO, the Rhoads Award of the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and the Forbes Memorial Award Lecture, International Society of Body Composition Research. He was honored for his role in the FDA ban on ephedra, receiving the 2004 NYC Mayor's Award for Science and Technology. In addition to his strong interest in biological method development, Dr. Heymsfield maintains an active clinical obesity research program, extending his earlier research at Columbia. Dr. Heymsfield is past President of the American Society of Clinical Nutrition and of the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.