Balancing Act: Synergizing Obesity Medication, Muscle Health and Nutrition Through a Patient Journey

Amanda Velazquez, MD, DABOM

Assistant Professor, Medicine and Surgery
Director of Obesity Medicine, Jim and Eleanor Randall Surgery Dept
Center for Weight Management and Metabolic Health
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Dr Amanda Velazquez is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Surgery and the Director of Obesity Medicine at the Center for Weight Management and Metabolic Health at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Dr Velazquez graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gilling’s School of Public Health, with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, and received her medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where she was elected to the national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA). She completed her internal medicine residency at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, and subsequently the Nutrition and Obesity Medicine fellowship program at Boston University School of Medicine.  She is passionate about achieving healthy equity and reducing health disparities through increased access to treatments for obesity, improving obesity medicine and nutrition education efforts for medical trainees and healthcare professionals, and cultivating systematic healthcare change through preventive medicine efforts.  Her research interests have focused on pharmacotherapy treatments of obesity, medical education of obesity medicine and nutrition, and reducing weight bias and stigma among healthcare professionals.

Katie Robinson, PhD, MPH, RD, LD

Medical Science Liaison Manager 
Abbott Nutrition 
Columbus, OH, USA

Dr Katie Robinson leads the Medical Science Liaison Team within Medical Affairs at Abbott’s Nutrition Division. The Medical Science Liaison team is comprised of clinician scientists who support research and routinely present educational programs on behalf of Abbott. Her expertise includes obesity, malnutrition, and clinical care nutrition. 

Dr Robinson completed her bachelor’s degree in Dietetics at Iowa State University and her dietetic internship at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). During her time at UIUC, she also earned a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Nutritional Sciences, taught multiple undergraduate and graduate courses, and assisted with coordinating the undergraduate didactic program in dietetics. She then completed postdoctoral training at University of Iowa’s Diabetes Research Center. Her research investigated the impact of nutrition and genetics on outcomes of behavioral and surgical weight loss interventions. 

Dr Robinson has served as a workgroup member for the Evidence Analysis Library of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, is an advocate for dietitians in research, and continues to publish in peer-reviewed journals.

Colleen Dawkins, FNP-C, RDN, CSOWM

Nurse Practitioner
Big Sky Medical Wellness, Owner
Oxford, MS, USA

Colleen is a Nurse Practitioner in private practice at Big Sky Medical Wellness. She is board-certified in family medicine, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a Certified Specialist in Obesity and Weight Management, and holds a Certification of Advanced Education in Obesity Medicine from the Obesity Medicine Association. 

Currently, Colleen serves as treasurer for the Washington Obesity Society, vice chair of the Commission on Dietetic Registration’s Obesity Certificate of Training program advisory board, member of the Obesity Medicine Association’s membership committee, associate editor and reviewer for the Obesity Pillars journal, and is a doctoral student at the University of Southern Mississippi.