The Weight and Wellness Research Program seeks to improve health outcomes for those of you with obesity through the development of patient-centered and cost-effective care, and the dissemination of knowledge about evidence-based practices.
The goals of our research are to:
- Assess the effectiveness of the Weight and Wellness Program comprehensive, multidisciplinary obesity treatment program
- Evaluate the strategies, care pathways, and treatment modalities necessary to deliver personalized obesity care
- Employ health technologies to both improve and increase access to obesity-related treatment
Key elements of our Research Program include:
- A comprehensive Weight and Wellness Program Clinical Registry that collects patient-level data
- Integration and collaborations both internally with related research centers and initiatives across Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, and external organizations.
- Monthly seminars to inform and update faculty and clinicians on new research findings and treatment options.
The Research Program includes physicians and scientists from our Weight and Wellness Program team and other Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Geisel School of Medicine programs.
For details on our program and projects, contact us by email at research.wwc@hitchcock.org.
Weight and Wellness Program Clinical Registry
The Clinical Registry collects patient-level data over time in order to gain a better understanding of how to best treat patients with obesity and related medical complications.
Data in the Clinical Registry will be used to study the effectiveness of our programs, and to determine whether these programs:
- Improve health outcomes
- Are patient-centered
- Are cost-effective
The goals of the Clinical Registry are to:
- Develop tools to personalize care pathways for different types of patients with obesity, in order to determine appropriate strategies for improving health with each type of patient.
- Determine ways to improve patient satisfaction for people receiving obesity treatments.
- Determine those health technologies that improve obesity-related care and increase patients' access to treatment.
The Weight and Wellness Program accepts requests for data use. Each request will be reviewed for scientific merit. Contact research.wwc@hitchcock.org for further information.
Participation in clinical research
Clinical research is essential for the development of new medical knowledge and treatments, and can range from studies that use patient interviews and data to understand a particular condition, to clinical trials, which involve people (healthy subjects or patients) to test new ways to prevent, diagnose or treat illness.
All clinical research and trials at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and Dartmouth College are conducted according to strict scientific and ethical principles. Every clinical trial has a plan, called a protocol, which is reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), called the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at Dartmouth College.
The release and use of patient-specific information for medical research also is approved by the IRB. Our privacy and confidentiality policies (PDF) support the patient's right to privacy, accept responsibility to keep secure and confidential the information collected about patients, and direct the appropriate use of that information under certain circumstances, such as providing for continuity of care and participating in approved research and educational activities.
Research Program collaborations
The Weight and Wellness Research Program is integrated and collaborates with related health research centers and initiatives internally across Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, and external organizations.
We collaborate with:
Health Promotion Research Center at Dartmouth, one of 26 CDC-funding prevention research centers nationally
