Rate My Professor Andrea Haqq

Andrea Haqq, MD, MHS, FRCP(C), FAAP, is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, serving as Research Lead for the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism in the Department of Pediatrics. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Sciences and a Pediatric Endocrinologist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Dr. Haqq completed her MD at the University of Calgary, pediatric residencies at BC Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and a pediatric endocrinology fellowship at Oregon Health and Science University. Prior to relocating to Edmonton in July 2009, she held a clinical and academic position at Duke University.

Dr. Haqq’s research centers on hormonal regulation of food intake, particularly childhood obesity and Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). Her laboratory has conducted foundational studies elucidating ghrelin excess in PWS, metabolic profiling distinguishing PWS from non-genetic obesity, and gut microbiota alterations linked to hyperphagia in PWS. She led one of the first controlled clinical trials of growth hormone in PWS, demonstrating reductions in adipose tissue, increases in lean body mass and resting energy expenditure, contributing to FDA approval for its use. Additional investigations include the 'healthy obese' phenotype, branched-chain amino acid-related metabolic signatures in insulin resistance, the metabolic load-capacity model in pediatric obesity, ectopic fat deposition, and novel anti-obesity pharmacotherapies such as octreotide, ghrelin O-acyltransferase inhibitors, setmelanotide for Bardet-Biedl syndrome, and carbetocin for PWS hyperphagia. Key publications include 'A branched-chain amino acid-related metabolic signature that differentiates obese and lean humans and contributes to insulin resistance' (Cell Metabolism, 2009), 'Serum ghrelin levels are inversely correlated with body mass index, age, and insulin concentrations in normal children and are markedly increased in Prader-Willi syndrome' (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003), 'Poverty, obesity, and malnutrition: an international perspective recognizing the paradox' (Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2007), and 'Complexity and stigma of pediatric obesity' (Childhood Obesity, 2021). With extensive clinical trial expertise, Dr. Haqq leads an international program developing personalized prevention and treatment strategies for pediatric obesity, including dietary, lifestyle, pharmacologic, and surgical interventions.