Senior Staff Physician
Director of International Medical Affairs
Medical Director, Obesity Clinic Program and Inpatient Diabetes Program
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Osama Hamdy, MD, PhD, interests include diabetes and obesity, metabolic syndrome and obesity and cardiovascular disease. His work focuses on understanding metabolic and cardiovascular benefits of lifestyle changes and weight loss. He studies the cardiovascular benefits of short- and long-term weight reduction in obese individuals with and without type 2 diabetes. Dr. Hamdy and colleagues’ research led to the discovery that obese adults who lost just 7 percent of their initial weight—the equivalent of 16 pounds in a 225-pound woman—had significant improvement of their vascular endothelial function. This improvement may eventually prevent progression of atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease and the subsequent risk of heart attack and stroke.

Dr. Hamdy is a Co-Investigator of two landmark studies: the national Diabetes Prevention Program and the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Study. Dr. Hamdy translated the successful clinical research results of these lifestyle modifications studies into a clinical practice model through the creation of Joslin’s Why WAIT? (Weight Achievement and Intensive Treatment) Program, the world’s first clinical practice program designed to help patients with diabetes lose weight through a novel multidisciplinary approach. Participants in the Why WAIT? Program have lost 10 percent of their initial weight over 12 weeks and maintained that weight loss. Why WAIT? participants showed significant improvement in diabetes control, lipid, kidney and liver profiles, together with improved quality of life and physical fitness. Participants were also able to cut their diabetes medications by approximately 50 percent.

Dr. Hamdy chaired the task force that developed Joslin’s new Clinical Nutrition Guidelines and is a member of the Nutrition Guidelines Committee of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists that created the AACE Nutrition Guidelines for Americans 2006.