Ida Hatoum

Doctoral student, Department of Nutrition

When she was in the second grade, Ida Hatoum imagined that some day there would be a magic weightloss pill. Over the years Ida has maintained a consistent interest in weight, body image, physical activity, and nutrition. While a psychology major at Boston University, and coxswain for BU varsity men’s crew, Ida conducted a study examining the links between media and men’s self-esteem and another study looking at the messages directed at girls reading Seventeen magazine. Following a year in AmeriCorps, she enrolled in the master’s program in the HSPH Department of Society, Human Development, and Health: “I came here because the courses seemed very cutting edge and because I was interested in the program in women, gender, and health.” Ida began working at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center as a master’s student and did her thesis on predictors of weight loss after gastric bypass surgery. Now a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition, Ida’s focus has evolved toward the biological basis of obesity. She calls a course on the molecular basis of metabolic disorders a “life-changing experience.” One of the inaugural winners of the Pritzker Fellowship for Obesity Research, Ida plans to investigate how fat cells send signals about weight. She hopes to develop a dissertation topic that integrates her interests in nutrition, epidemiology, and biology.