Anti-obesity medications: Risks, benefits and alternatives

Prescriptions for anti-obesity medications have soared. A wave of next-generation therapies is on the way. And researchers are studying whether GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro can have impacts beyond obesity and diabetes, based on emerging clues that they could target addiction, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis — even potentially neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Yet amid the excitement, important questions have arisen about access, cost, equity, and long-term use. Consumers are also asking how these drugs align with longstanding advice about nutrition, exercise, mental health, and positive body image. Our expert panel will answer your questions. 

Register for free to submit your questions.   

An on-demand video will be posted after the event. 

SPEAKERS

Caroline Apovian, Obesity Medicine Specialist and Co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

Bryn Austin, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; S. Jean Emans, MD, Endowed Chair in Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital

Uma Naidoo,  Director of Nutritional, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professional Chef; Nutritional Biologist; and Author

Fatima Cody Stanford, Obesity Medicine Physician-Scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital

MODERATOR

Mallika Marshall, Medical Reporter, WBZ-TV and CBS News Boston