Leah D. Whigham

Leah Whigham, PhD, FTOS, is an obesity scientist and Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to UT, she was the founding director of the Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living, the Center for Community Health Impact, and the El Paso Nutrition & Healthy Weight Clinic. Prior to that, she was a Lead Scientist and Research Nutritionist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Earlier in her career, she also served as an Associate Scientist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Whigham is a Fellow of The Obesity Society (FTOS) and served on the Executive Committee as Secretary/Treasurer along with numerous other leadership roles. She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Nutrition & Diabetes, a Springer Nature Journal.

In her position at UT, Dr. Whigham is leveraging her previous experience to launch a statewide obesity initiative in Texas. Her leadership approach is to ensure the needs of the community drive priorities that are informed by science, providing a bridge between research and application with a focus on impact. Dr. Whigham has over 25 years of experience in basic, clinical, and translational sciences. Her research has increased our understanding of metabolism as it relates to obesity, the influence of nutrients and immune function on body composition, the impact of the environment on health, the development of software tools for healthcare providers, the use economic development strategies to increase access to healthy food, and the use of multi-sector system models to drive change at a population level.