The weight of words

Biography

Professor Louisa Ells is a Professor of Obesity and co-directs the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett University. She is a registered public health nutritionist and Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health.

Louisa specialises in highly applied obesity research and has over 20 years’ experience working across policy, practice, and academia. She has an established track record in coproduced, patient centred, multidisciplinary, cross-sector applied weight management research and evaluation, and has a specialist interest in addressing inequalities.

Louisa has a funding portfolio of more than £11 million, and an extensive publication record. Louisa has been principal investigator of several high-profile projects for the World Health Organization, Public Health England, and the NHS. She has also been an expert advisor to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and sits on delivery boards for the NHS and Office of Health Improvement and Disparities.

Synopsis

Changing the narrative around obesity. What have we learned and what mistakes have we made?

Eat less, do more has been a common mantra when it comes to weight management, however, obesity is much more complex than this. Professor Louisa Ells argues that we need to change the narrative, to remove the bias, stigma, judgement, and inequalities associated with living with obesity.

Louisa Ells explores the need to do things differently, taking a compassionate and person-centred approach. An obesity diagnosis can be used as a lever to achieve tailored support for lifelong health and wellbeing.

In this talk, Louisa looks to the future, asking how we can do things differently in order to make a real and tangible difference to peoples’ lives.