Education

CHLN supports education through several initiatives and efforts, including an ongoing seminar series of invited speakers, a postdoctoral fellowship program, and mentoring of students and junior faculty by numerous Center members. Many Center members work with undergraduate, masters, and/or PhD students from various degree programs at KUMC, KU, KCU medical school, and UMKC, as well as medical fellows from Children’s Mercy.

CHLN seminars are part of the broader Kansas City Diabetes, Obesity, and Nutrition Seminar (KC-DONS) series that spans the CHLN, KU Diabetes Institute, the Department of Dietetics & Nutrition at KUMC and the Kansas Center for Metabolism and Obesity Research at KUMC. This integrated KC-DONS series holds an educational seminar every week for the spring and fall semesters. CHLN sponsors one speaker each month, which includes Center members as well as experts from across the U.S. and around the world. In 2025, several new Center members and emerging investigators presented their work through this seminar series, including Dr. Danielle Christifano from KUMC and Drs. Matthew Chrisman, Nicholas Marchello, and Anita Skarbek from UMKC. Long-time Center member Dr. Robin Shook also presented on his recent work from his K award.

Notable outside KC-DONS speakers included Dr. Webb Smith (Le Bonheur Children's Hospital; University of Tennessee) who presented on “Treatment for Youth with Severe Obesity: The Role of Clinical Exercise Medicine in Anti-Obesity Medications and Bariatric Surgery,” Dr. Kate Heelan (University of Nebraska at Kearney) who spoke on “Designing for dissemination: Key lessons learned from packaging a Pediatric Weight Management Intervention – Building Healthy Families - for implementation in rural and micropolitan communities– The Nebraska CORD 3.0 Project,” Dr. Ryan Rhodes (University of Victoria) who spoke on “Promoting Child Physical Activity within the Family System: Current Evidence and Future Directions,” Dr. Erik Willis (University of North Carolina), who presented on “Supporting Early Childhood Health in Child Care and Home Environments,” Dr. Amanda Staiano (Pennington Biomedical Research Center) who presented on “Harnessing Screens to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Weight Practices in Youth,” and Dr. Mark Hopkins (University of Leeds) who spoke on “The Role of Lean Tissue in the Control of Appetite During Weight Stability and Weight Loss.” We are grateful to all the presenters who took the time to share their expertise on behalf of the Center this past year.

We were thrilled to bring in Dr. Aaron Kelly (University of Minnesota) as our Kemper Healthy Lifestyles Lecture speaker, which allows us to host a national expert for a “Grand Rounds” type presentation. Dr. Kelly delivered a fantastic presentation on “Disordered Eating and Risk for Eating Disorders in Treatment of Pediatric Obesity” and met with numerous Center members during his two-day visit. We had a great time with Dr. Kelly and are grateful for his collaboration and consultations.

CHLN’s postdoctoral fellowship program has continued and currently includes two postdoctoral fellows, one funded by the Kemper Fellowship and another funded by the Center; we also work with other fellows funded by individual investigators. CHLN postdocs work closely with their primary mentor, who supports the postdoc by providing guidance and opportunities, including working together on projects, publications, and other research and career development activities. Postdocs also network with other investigators and postdocs at both institutions (KUMC and Children’s Mercy) to broaden and enhance their training experience. Postdocs work with their mentor to develop an Individualized Development Plan and Scholarly Oversight Committee to guide and personalize their training experience. CHLN connects each postdoc with ongoing meetings and seminars at KUMC and Children’s Mercy that provide valuable opportunities for learning and career development, including through the cross-institution Frontiers Clinical & Translational Science Institute, the Children’s Mercy’s collective for Aspiring Scientists and Trainees for Research Advancement, and KUMC’s T32 on Translating Obesity, Metabolic Dysfunction, and Comorbid Disease States. At the end of 2025, CHLN posted an ad for new postdoctoral fellows for 2026-2028 and received a very strong group of applicants. We are excited to continue the CHLN educational program with a new cohort of trainees.