Investigational Weight Management Clinic

With the creation of the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center (MMOC), the University of Michigan School of Medical supported the creation of a clinic that would provide clinical care and carry out the research and education mission of the MMOC. The IWMC was created as a Demonstration Unit to investigate the feasibility of performing advanced phenotypic testing of individuals in the context of a state-of-the-art clinic for obesity management. The creation of the clinic was a model of the interactions that are required to perform integrated phenotyping in a clinical setting, including HIPAA compliant data management.

Drs. Burant, Rothberg and Herman and staff of the IWMC worked with personnel in the Integrative Biostatistics and Informatics Core, Human Phenotyping Core and Molecular Phenotyping Core, Michigan Institute for Clinical Health Research (MICHR), CCMB, NCIBI, Michigan Clinical Research Unit, the Faculty Group Practice, the Institutional Review Board, Blue Care Network (the Universities primary insurance carrier) and other entities to create the infrastructure, data management, sample storage and preliminary analysis plan the clinic. The basic protocol involves baseline clinical, molecular, physiological and neurobiological testing of patients enrolled in the clinic. As part of an ongoing protocol, up to 400 individuals will be retested after weight loss, with the hypothesis that metabolic, molecular or neurobehavioral or genetic markers will predict successful or unsuccessful initial or long-term weight loss.

The initial response by the patient population has been outstanding with 20 patients opting into the IRB-approved protocol two months and multiple others awaiting enrollment.

Clinical information can also be found on the Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes (MEND) website.


For more information, please contact: 
Charles Burant, MMOC Director,
University of Michigan, Brehm Tower Rm 6309
1000 Wall St., Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Tel: (734) 615-3481; Fax: (734) 232-8175
or e-mail burantc@umich.edu