Rate My Professor Ian Caterson

Professor Ian Caterson is Professor Emeritus and Boden Professor of Human Nutrition in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, positions he has held since 1997. He earned his MBBS from the University of Sydney in 1971 and completed specialist training in endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH). At RPAH, he served as Senior Staff Specialist and Director of Clinical Endocrinology, Head of the Department of Endocrinology from 1986 to 2011, and Clinical Director of Weight Management Services. In 1984, he established Australia's first multidisciplinary weight management service there. Caterson is Foundation Director of the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders at the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre, where he also acts as Deputy Director and Head of Clinical Studies. His career encompasses clinical practice, research leadership, and policy advisory roles.

Caterson's research focuses on insulin resistance, including its biochemical causes, mechanisms, and effects; obesity epidemiology, causes, management, and prevention; epigenetics of obesity; and the role of gut microbiota. He has authored over 200 scientific publications on these topics. Key works include co-editorship of Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children (third edition, 2010), 'Time for a new obesity narrative' in The Lancet (2018), and contributions to Prevention Conference VII: Writing Group II in Circulation (2004). His impact on the field is demonstrated through extensive leadership: Past President of the World Obesity Federation (2014-2016), President of the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society, President of the Australian Diabetes Society, and Regional Vice-President of the Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. He chairs the Expert Obesity Committee for the Australian National Preventive Health Agency and serves on the National Health and Medical Research Council's Prevention and Community Health Committee. In 2014, Caterson was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medicine, particularly in endocrinology and obesity.