Obesity Expert to Join UAMS College of Public Health
| LITTLE ROCK – A psychologist who specializes in obesity and eating disorders will join the tobacco-settlement-funded College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in June.
Delia Smith West, Ph.D., will be a professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and director of the college’s Multidisciplinary Obesity Program.
West’s major research interests are the causes and treatment of obesity and eating disorders; behavioral interventions for obesity-related medical conditions, particularly type II diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure); cancer screening recommendations and clinical trial protocols; and health care for minority women and women who live in medically underserved regions.
West is currently an associate professor in the Behavioral Medicine Unit, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. In addition, she holds positions in the university’s Center for Health Promotion, Clinical Nutrition Research Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Center for Aging and School of Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior.
The UAMS College of Public Health strives to improve health and promote the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities in Arkansas through education, research and service. The college is partially funded by the state with some of Arkansas’ proceeds from the nationwide tobacco settlement.