This guide is based on a Weight & Measure conversation centered on physicians who also bring lived experience of obesity to their work.
- How do physicians experience obesity stigma?
- Can lived experience change the way a clinician practices?
- What can medical education learn from obesity science and patient voice?
- Why does the patient-clinician relationship matter?
Does being a physician protect someone from obesity stigma?
The conversation makes clear that medical training does not erase the experience of living in a stigmatized body. Physicians can encounter the same assumptions, shame and treatment barriers as other patients.
How can lived experience change clinical care?
Personal experience can make certain barriers or emotions easier to recognize, but the episode does not suggest that every clinician must share a patient’s experience. Listening and curiosity remain essential.
What does this reveal about obesity education?
The discussion considers how medical training and clinical culture have historically approached obesity and how newer science and lived experience can challenge older assumptions.
Why does this matter to patients?
Hearing clinicians discuss their own experiences can expose the gap between knowing obesity science professionally and navigating obesity care personally, reinforcing the need for respectful, individualized care.
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Listen to the Weight & Measure conversation
When Obesity Medicine Gets Personal: Physicians Living with Obesity on GLP-1s, Bariatric Surgery, Med School & Patient Care
What happens when the obesity medicine physician is also living with obesity?In this episode of Weight & Measure, hosts Mike Donnelly-Boylen and Zach Niemiec are joined by Dr. Matthea Rentea, Dr. Catherine Toomer, and D…
Explore the episode