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STOP Obesity Alliance Announces Eight New Associate Members to Help Raise Obesity on the Nation's Public Health Agenda

WASHINGTON, April 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eight medical groups, public health associations and obesity experts joined the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance today as the organization accelerates outreach to public and private sector decision makers grappling with the high costs of weight-related health conditions -- such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"Any national health reform discussion that does not address the impact of obesity will ultimately be unable to meet the goals of better health and more affordable care," said 17th U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, Health and Wellness Chairperson of the STOP Obesity Alliance and President of Canyon Ranch Institute. "Obesity threatens every segment of our society -- from our military to our schools. These medical professionals and public health officials bring additional fire power to the Alliance's recommendations for action to help reverse the obesity epidemic."

The STOP Obesity Alliance, based at The George Washington University Department of Health Policy (GW), is run by a Steering Committee of business, labor, insurance, quality, consumer and medical organizations. The new Associate Members will participate in efforts to remove the barriers preventing greater national attention and progress on managing and preventing obesity.

New Associate Members include the American Association of Diabetes Educators, American College of Sports Medicine, American Society of Bariatric Physicians, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Campaign to End Obesity, Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors and Rebecca Puhl, Ph.D., of Yale's Ru
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