About the Speaker
Dr. Robert Kushner is a globally-recognized leader in the field of obesity medicine, Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, former Director of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Northwestern Medicine which he led for 16 years, founder and first chair of the American Board of Obesity Medicine that certifies physicians in the care of patients with obesity, and Past President of The Obesity Society. He is also author (or editor) of 15 books, 56 book chapters and 230 original and review articles on obesity, obesity medicine, lifestyle medicine, medical education, and nutrition. His new book for clinicians, Patient-Centered Weight Management, was just released in August, 2025. Visit the drrobertkushner.com website for more information.
Board-certified in internal medicine and nutrition, Dr. Kushner is passionate about helping to improve the lives of those affected by overweight and obesity. Using a personalized, habits-based approach, he has been breaking weight loss barriers with customized plans for over 40 years. A noted national and international speaker, Dr. Kushner teaches health care professionals about both the science and art of patient-centered weight management.
Examples of Dr. Kushner’s media coverage as an obesity expert and author include The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, ABC World News, Weekend Today, Health, O, the Oprah Magazine, People, US News, and World Report and WebMD.com.
In addition to teaching students, writing books, publishing articles and speaking around the world, Dr. Kushner is an avid jogger, dog lover and has a passion for ballroom dancing – which he enjoys with his wife, and co-author, Nancy.
Internal Medicine Research Day 2025 was held on October 8, 2025 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event featured Dr. Bruce Levine as its plenary speaker.
Dr. Levine is the Founding Director of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility (CVPF) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
He received a B.A. (Biology) from Penn and a Ph.D. in Immunology and Infectious Diseases from Johns Hopkins. First-in-human adoptive immunotherapy trials include the first use of a lentiviral vector, the first infusions of gene edited cells, and the first use of lentivirally-modified cells to treat cancer.
Dr. Levine is co-inventor of the first FDA approved gene therapy (Kymriah), chimeric antigen receptor T cells for leukemia and lymphoma, licensed to Novartis. Dr. Levine is co-inventor on 32 issued US patents and co-author of over 200 manuscripts and book chapters with a Google Scholar citation h-index of 112. He is a Co-Founder of TmunityTherapeutics, and of Capstan Therapeutics, both spinouts of the University of Pennsylvania.
The Department of Internal Medicine held its 2024 Research Day on Wednesday, October 16th, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.The event featured Serpil Erzurum, M.D., as the plenary and School of Medicine Bohan Visiting Professor speaker.
Dr. Erzurum is the Chief Research and Academic Officer of Cleveland Clinic and holds the Alfred Lerner Memorial Chair in Innovative Biomedical Research.
Her scientific contributions and leadership in pulmonary research have led to diagnostic and therapeutic advances in lung diseases and helped to identify human physiologic adaptive responses to high-altitude hypoxia. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and has been the principal investigator on more than 20 federal grants, including multi-investigator program project grants and network trials.
The Department of Internal Medicine held its 4th annual Research Day on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.The event featured Stephanie Studenski, R.N., M.D., MPH, Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, as the plenary and School of Medicine Bohan Visiting Professor Speaker.
Dr. Studenski is a specialist in rheumatology and geriatric medicine, and one of the most prominent researchers on aging in the USA and internationally.
She has published over 350 journal articles, authored nearly 50 invited papers and book chapters as well as mentored close to 50 research trainees.
The Department of Internal Medicine held its 3rd annual Research Day on Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., CST. The event featured Dr. Heidi Crane, M.D., MPH, as the plenary and School of Medicine Bohan Visiting Professor speaker.
Dr. Crane is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She is the Associate Director of the UW Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research (CE&HSR) Core, which promotes research comparing the effectiveness of management strategies for HIV-infected patients in routine clinical practice. She is also Medical Director of the Madison HIV Metabolic clinic.
Her research interests include chronic complications of HIV, including metabolic issues and cardiovascular disease; adherence; substance use, and other patient-reported outcomes. Dr. Crane is co-chair of the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) sociobehavioral working group, and leads the CNICS Patient Reported Outcomes Committee. She oversaw development and integration of a clinical assessment of sociobehavioral measures including medication adherence that are now systematically collected at routine clinic appointments at a number of HIV clinics across the US (Seattle, Boston, San Diego, Birmingham, San Francisco, Baltimore, Chapel Hill, etc.) as part of CNICS. She is co-PI of a Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systems (PROMIS) NIH Roadmap initiative UO1 on measuring patient reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical care for HIV-infected patients. She is co-PI of a study examining genetic contributions to cardiovascular disease among patients with HIV. She is also co-PI of a data harmonization center for 21 NIDA-funded RO1 projects on substance abuse and HIV among criminal justice and other vulnerable patient populations.
The Department of Internal Medicine held its 2nd annual Research Day on Wednesday, November 10th, 2021from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., CST inthe Ad Astra Room, 5th floor, Health Education Building.
The event featured Dr. Harvey Alter, M.D., Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, MACP Distinguished NIH Investigator Emeritus, as the plenary and Inaugural Dr. Allan and Judith Cooke Lecture speaker.
Dr. Alter has played a key role in the discovery of two hepatitis viruses, namely hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the non-A, non-B virus, later designated the hepatitis C virus (HCV). In long-term prospective studies, Dr. Alter helped define the natural history of NANB/HCV infection and proved its frequent progression to chronic hepatitis and its evolution to cirrhosis and liver-related mortality.
A recording of Dr. Alter's keynote address: Hepatitis C: The End of the Beginning and Possibly The Beginning of the End.