Pennington Biomedical Scientist Wins Prestigious Obesity Society Award - 11.05.2011

BATON ROUGE, LA – Eric Ravussin, Ph.D., Professor and Douglas L. Gordon Endowed Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, was awarded the 2011 George A. Bray Founders Award by The Obesity Society.

The award recognizes significant contributions to The Obesity Society, and contributions that advance the scientific or clinical basis for understanding or treating obesity.  Dr. Ravussin received the award on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at The Obesity Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando, FL.

Dr. George A. Bray, the award’s namesake and Professor at Pennington Biomedical, was among those that nominated Dr. Ravussin for the prestigious award.  “The selection of Eric Ravussin for the 2011 Founders Award from The Obesity Society is testimony to his excellence as a clinical investigator working to solve the problem of obesity and to his important leadership role in raising public awareness of obesity,” said Dr. Bray.  “Dr. Ravussin’s contributions to the study of human physiology have advanced our understanding of the causes of obesity and are guiding us in clinical management,” added Dr. Steven Heymsfield, Executive Director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. 

Dr. Ravussin is an internationally recognized translational investigator in obesity and diabetes research.  His research now focuses on the genetic and molecular basis of obesity and its co-morbidities and his studies are aimed at understanding the mechanisms that determine the inter-individual variability in energy expenditure, fat oxidation and in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. He also concentrates on the relationship between physiology and gene expression in response to diet and physical training. Dr. Ravussin received his Ph.D. in human physiology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and worked in both the academic world and pharmaceutical industry prior to joining Pennington Biomedical in 2000.

Dr. Ravussin joins Drs. Claude Bouchard and David York, all of which received this award during their tenures at Pennington Biomedical.

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About the Pennington Biomedical Research Center
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is at the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the causes of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. It is a campus of the Louisiana State University System and conducts basic, clinical and population research. The research enterprise at Pennington Biomedical includes approximately 80 faculty and more than 25 post-doctoral fellows who comprise a network of 50 laboratories supported by lab technicians, nurses, dieticians, and support personnel, and 19 highly specialized core service facilities.  Pennington Biomedical’s more than 500 employees perform research activities in state-of-the-art facilities on the 234-acre campus located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  For more information, see www.pbrc.edu.  

For More Information Contact:
Angela deGravelles (225) 202-5073