GEORGE L. BLACKBURN, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. George Blackburn serves as the S. Daniel Abraham Associate Professor of Nutrition and Associate Director of the Division of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School. He is also the Chief of the Nutrition/Metabolism Laboratory, and Director of the Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine, which are affiliated with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1965, Dr. Blackburn received his medical degree from the University of Kansas. He completed his internship and residency at Boston City Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and in 1973, he obtained his doctorate in nutritional biochemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Blackburn's laboratory has a priority to investigate the most complex issues dealing with nutrition and health. He has trained over 100 fellows in applied and clinical nutrition and has published widely on various aspects of nutrition, medicine, and metabolism, with over 400 publications to date. He is on the editorial board of and a reviewer for numerous journals including, the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, International Journal of Obesity. Dr. Blackburn has been most fortunate to be recognized for his contributions to the field of nutrition by being awarded in 1988 the Grace Goldsmith Award by the American College of Nutrition, and was, in 1992, also made an honorary member of the American Dietetic Association. In 1998 he received the Joseph Goldberger award in Clinical Nutrition from the American Medical Association, and was appointed, six years later, an American Society for Nutrition Fellow in recognition of a distinguished career in nutrition.

As an active participant in the field of nutritional medicine, Dr. Blackburn is a past President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO), now called The Obesity Society, and the American Board of Nutrition. Dr. Blackburn also serves on the board of directors for the Food Research and Action Center, and the Reality Coalition – a recently created organization aiming to spread the message for healthy, moderate weight loss. He remains on the Board of Advisors for the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) of which he served as president; he is a member of numerous other medical societies, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association. He is a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on the NIH-funded Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) and is the Associate Director and executive committee member of the NIH Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (BONRC).

In many ways, Dr. Blackburn's work is also his recreation – he loves what he does and looks forward to it every morning. But he is equally if not even more passionate about his four children and his grandchildren, for whom he is driven to make the world a better place. Dr. Blackburn loves to engage his mind and think outside the box; for him, living life means learning. His activities reflect this. Dr. Blackburn reads endlessly; biographies are a particular favorite, through which he learns what great minds before have done to become ever greater and more effective. Some of his side interests, researched outside of his work life have ranged from longevity to genetics, nanotechnology, Jewish living, Middle Eastern politics, and unpredictable rationality. Perhaps the most appropriate description of Dr. Blackburn's life is this: leave the world better off than when you received it, and learn everything you can.

Selected Publications

Blackburn GL. Benefits of weight loss in the treatment of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:347-349

Blackburn GL. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: where nutrition meets medicine for the benefit of health. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;78:197-198. [PubMed]

Blackburn GL. Weight management expert column-making scientific sense of different dietary approaches, Part 1: meeting dietary needs, achieving weight loss. Expert Viewpoint, Medscape Diabetes & Endocrinology. February 26, 2004. [Medscape]

Blackburn GL. Weight management expert column-making scientific sense of different dietary approaches, Part 2: evaluating diets. Expert Viewpoint, Medscape Diabetes & Endocrinology. March 9, 2004. [Medscape]

Blackburn GL, Waltman BA. Expanding the Limits of Treatment--New Strategic Initiatives. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005;105:S131-S135. [PubMed]

JULIE CORLISS

Julie Corliss is a medical writer with more the sixteen years of experience in consumer health issues. After receiving a BA in biology at Oberlin College, she worked for several years as a research assistant for Dr. William E. Connor, an internationally known expert on the health benefits of fish oil. She obtained a master's certificate in science communication at the University of California at Santa Cruz, then worked as a writer and public affairs specialist at the National Cancer Institute, the US Department of Agriculture, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. For eight years, she was a staff medical writer for HealthNews, a consumer health publication affiliated with the New England Journal of Medicine. Since 1993, she has done freelance medical writing for a variety of publications, including Newsweek, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin, CURE (Cancer Updates, Research, and Education), and Harvard Women's Health Watch. She currently works as a senior medical editor for Harvard Health Publications.

Selected Publications

Newsweek
Brain Check, cover story on Mind-Body Medicine (co-authored with Herbert Benson, MD, and Geoffrey Cowley), 9/04

Harvard Health Publications

Weight Less, Live Longer: Strategies for successful weigh loss (2006)

Hands: Strategies for strong, pain-free hands (2005)

Celiac disease: When the body goes against the grains (7/06)

Nitroglycerin: A blast from the past remains a trusted standby (7/05)

Health News

Food Irradiation: A Recipe for Safer Food? (6/04)

"Vegging Out" for Better Health? (11/03)

Low-Carb Diet Lowdown (7/03)

Space for Women: Perspectives on Careers in Science (Booklet) (1995)