Enrichment Programs

Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD | Enrichment Director

The mission of the UCSF-NORC Enrichment Program remains to provide exceptionally high-quality opportunities for investigators at UCSF to exchange research information, for recognized experts in obesity and nutrition to enlighten the UCSF community on both research and clinical practice, and for faculty to educate trainees, as well as to strengthen the multidisciplinary and collaborative network that links nutrition and obesity research being conducted across UCSF.

Program Objectives

  1. Strategically integrate a complementary yearlong set of speakers regularly interspersed in the weekly UCSF Endocrine Grand Rounds, Diabetes and Obesity Seminar Series, and institution-wide talks within the graduate school seminar series. 
  2. Oversee the maintenance of a high-quality weekly Obesity and Nutrition Journal Club at UCSF in order to implement further the training components of the NORC mission.
  3. Conduct and strategically continue to grow the annual UCSF Diabetes, Obesity, and Nutrition Retreat.
  4. Continue to host interdisciplinary collaborative enrichment activities, including a clinical engagement symposium co-sponsored by the Center for Obesity Assessment and Treatment (COAST), which incentivize core utilization by promoting joint projects between clinical and basic researchers at UCSF.
  5. Co-host the annual COAST Sugar, Stress, Environment, and Weight (SSEW) symposium.
  6. Provide speakers as part of continuing medical education (CME) activities relevant to obesity and nutrition.

Benefits of the Enrichment Program

The activities of the UCSF-NORC Enrichment Program will serve to create a cohesive scientific community focused on obesity- and nutrition-related research. Not only will the seminars, visiting professors, journal clubs, retreats, and other meetings serve to educate about the ongoing scientific progress in the fields of obesity and nutrition, they will also be a chance for clinicians and basic scientists to meet, discuss and exchange ideas, and potentially establish productive collaborations. The program will also allow for trainees to be exposed to and have the chance to participate in the obesity and nutritional research being conducted at UCSF.