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Pennington Biomedical Makes History with First-Ever International Symposium in Riyadh
Pennington Biomedical Research Center marked a major milestone this past week with the successful launch of its first international scientific symposium: the Pennington Obesity and Metabolic Disease Symposium, held December 6, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event concluded an extraordinary week of high-level partnership-building across the Gulf region, further solidifying Pennington Biomedical as a premier U.S. collaborator in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 health transformation goals.
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Do You Have “The Answer?” Find Out at Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation’s Premier Gala
“The Answer,” the annual premier gala for the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation, will be held at the L’Auberge Casino and Hotel Event Center on Friday, March 27, 2026, with members of the Greater Baton Rouge community and beyond invited for a night of trivia, entertainment, a live and silent auction and more. For more than 10 years, the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation has held the annual gala to support innovative, life-changing discoveries at the world-renowned Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
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"Louisiana: The State We're In" on Pennington Biomedical's Greaux Healthy Initiative
Louisiana now ranks fourth in the nation for adult obesity, according to new CDC data — a position the state consistently holds just behind West Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. A doctor at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge explains the factors driving Louisiana’s high rates, as the center rolls out new initiatives to fight obesity. That includes Greaux Healthy, a statewide effort aimed at helping families build healthier habits. LPB’s Christina Jensen reports. Louisiana: The State We're In (SWI) SWI is Louisiana's only statewide news magazine. The program airs Fridays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 4:30 p.m. on the six-station LPB network that includes stations in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, and Shreveport. This award-winning show combines in-depth coverage about the important issues in the state along with expert analysis.
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Pennington Biomedical Appoints Dr. Corby Martin as the Associate Executive Director for Scientific Education
LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center announced that Dr. Corby Martin has been appointed as the Associate Executive Director for Scientific Education, effective November 1, 2025.
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Severity of Obesity Closely Associated with Likelihood of Disease Burden in US National Study
Obesity severity is incrementally associated with a broad range of cardiometabolic and renal disease burden, as discovered by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Recently published in Obesity, the paper “Association of Obesity Severity with Cardiometabolic and Renal Disease Burden in the United States,” explored the relationship through a cross-sectional study of data from the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey.
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Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman Recruited to Lead the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney
Following an extensive worldwide search, Dr. Leanne Redman has been appointed Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre, the University of Sydney’s first and largest multidisciplinary research initiative. A Professor of Clinical Science, Dr. Redman currently holds a number of positions at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center including the LPFA Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Associate Executive Director for Scientific Education. Over the past twenty years, she has pioneered groundbreaking research on women’s health issues, including the study of obesity in pregnancy, the optimisation of maternal nutrition and childhood obesity prevention.
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Pennington Biomedical Encourages “Small Shifts” for a Healthier, More Energized Holiday Season
As the holiday season approaches, Pennington Biomedical Research Center is sharing tips and advice to help families enjoy their celebrations while feeling their best. Building on the Center’s popular “Small Shifts” campaign, the message this year is simple: even modest changes to how we approach food, movement, and mindfulness can make a big difference in our energy, health, and enjoyment.
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Four Pennington Biomedical Researchers Recognized among the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers
Four researchers from LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center have been named among the world’s most highly cited scientists, according to the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list from Clarivate Analytics. Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Steven Heymsfield, Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk, Dr. Eric Ravussin, and Dr. Donna Ryan are recognized among the top 1 percent of researchers whose work has demonstrated significant and broad influence in their respective fields. The list identifies scientists whose publications rank among the most cited globally over the past 11 years, as measured in the Web of Science database.
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Dr. Ann Coulter of Pennington Biomedical Presents New Approach to Fat Metabolism Activation Therapies at Bio on the Bayou Conference
Dr. Ann Coulter of Pennington Biomedical Research Center recently presented research on a novel nutritional supplement that targets fat cells to stimulate weight loss at the Bio on the Bayou conference in New Orleans.
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The Power of Discovery: GLP-1 Receptor Agonists
Life-changing medications don’t happen overnight. For years, Pennington Biomedical Research Center has been instrumental in GLP-1 drug research, ensuring that these treatments are not only effective but also safe for people across the globe. Today, GLP-1 drugs give millions of people new hope in their weight-loss journey, helping them achieve healthier lives and better long-term outcomes. But there’s still more to learn, and our scientists are already hard at work on the next generation of treatments.
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Louisiana Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes, ECHO, Collaboration Secures Federal Funding Renewal
Louisiana’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes, or ECHO program, has secured a share of $13 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. The award, which is for the program’s third award cycle, will support its efforts and research for five years.
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Pennington Biomedical Researchers Head to Atlanta for ObesityWeek 2025
Pennington Biomedical researchers are preparing to head to Atlanta for ObesityWeek 2025, presented by The Obesity Society, or TOS. Taking place Nov. 4-7, ObesityWeek is the preeminent international conference for obesity researchers and clinicians, featuring the latest developments in evidence-based obesity science. Pennington Biomedical will be well represented at the conference, as faculty members are not just participating in but are among the 250 experts leading courses, presentations and speaker panels during the event.
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Pennington Biomedical Awarded Renewal of NIH-funded Center to Advance Metabolic Disease Research and Train Future Scientists
Following a competitive review process, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for Pennington Biomedical’s Metabolic Basis of Disease Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) was renewed for an additional five years. This Phase II renewal builds on the momentum achieved since the center’s establishment in 2020, enabling continued support for young scientists who are focused on the mechanisms through which nutrition and metabolism contribute to health.
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Grip Strength Identified as Simple Method for Identifying Individuals at Risk for Obesity-related Complications
People with obesity who also have high muscle mass may be less likely to have obesity-related organ damage. This observation was described in the study “Handgrip Strength and Trajectories of Preclinical Obesity Progression: A Multistate Model Analysis Using the UK Biobank,” which was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Dr. Yun Shen and Dr. Gang Hu of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, along with international colleagues, recently explored the association between grip strength and preclinical obesity progression.
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Pennington Biomedical Hosts NIDDK Clinical Methods for Nutrition & Obesity Research Course for Postdoctoral Fellows
From Oct. 6-9, Pennington Biomedical Research Center hosted the NIDDK Clinical Methods for Nutrition and Obesity Research Course, an intensive four-day training program designed to equip postdoctoral fellows, advanced doctoral students, and early career investigators with hands-on expertise in state-of-the-art methods for clinical research in obesity, metabolism and nutrition.
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Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' FNCE 2025 Features Pennington Biomedical Abstracts
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo 2025 is taking place in Nashville Oct. 11-14, and features abstracts from Pennington Biomedical researchers. Dr. Catherine Champagne, Dr. Jacob Mey and Cathy Carmichael, RD, are in attendance at this conference, with nearly 20 Pennington Biomedical faculty and researchers represented in conference research presentations.
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2025 Childhood Obesity Conference Welcomes More than 100 Physicians and Health Care Professionals
The 2025 Childhood Obesity Conference, "Be the Reason Kids Greaux Healthy," was held on Oct. 2 and 3, at the C.B. Pennington Jr. Conference Center. Presented by Greaux Healthy, the event welcomed more than 100 health care professionals, educators, advocates and community leaders to the campus to hear from leading local researchers on the latest developments, topics and research trends in childhood obesity prevention.
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Precision Prevention, Diagnostics and Treatment of Obesity: Pipedream or Reality?
A new report led by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center underscores the growing potential of precision medicine to transform how obesity is prevented, diagnosed and treated, while also illuminating key gaps and challenges that must be addressed. Published in September in Obesity, the paper, “Precision Prevention, Diagnostics and Treatment of Obesity,” synthesizes the proceedings of a recent Pennington-Louisiana Nutrition Obesity Research Center, or NORC, scientific workshop that was convened to review current evidence on tailoring obesity interventions to individual biology, environment, behavior and social factors.
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Severe Obesity Associated with Reduced Prevalence of Recommended Cancer Screenings
In a recent cross-sectional study, researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that severe obesity is associated with a lower rate of cancer screenings. In their paper published in JAMA Network Open, “Obesity Severity and Cancer Screening in US Adults,” the researchers analyzed de-identified data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to reach these findings.
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Pennington Biomedical Invites Health Care Providers to Childhood Obesity Conference “Be the Reason Kids Greaux Healthy,” Oct. 2-3
Pennington Biomedical is proud to host the 2025 Childhood Obesity Conference, presented by the Greaux Health initiative, on Oct. 3 at its C.B. Pennington, Jr. Conference Center. Guests are also invited to a pre-conference Motivational Interviewing Workshop on Thursday, Oct. 2.
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