George A. Bray, MD, Boyd Professor, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, presented the 18th Annual Heavenrich Lecture Series with talks in both Saginaw and the Lansing area. On October 20, 2009, he addressed "How Do We Get Fat?" in Saginaw. The following day he presented "Does Diet Matter?" at Sparrow Hospital, followed by "Who Needs Drugs for Obesity?" on the Michigan State University campus.
Dr. Bray is Boyd Professor and is a professor of medicine at the Louisiana State University Medical Center. He recently retired as the executive director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center. He is internationally recognized as an authority on obesity and the various medical conditions associated with obesity. He is also an authority on diabetes. Over his 43 years in medicine, he has authored over 1,300 scientific papers and abstracts, has given over 200 invited lectures and over 100 radio and television interviews, and has been awarded 14 research grants centered on his research interests. Dr. Bray is a Master of both the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinology.
The Robert M. Heavenrich, MD, Endowed Lectureship in Pediatrics is one of the department’s most important contributions to the land grant and public service missions of Michigan State University. The annual Lectureship provides a high quality, locally accessible source of continuing education credit for community pediatricians, and an opportunity for interested individuals to meet and interact with leading pediatricians on a personal level. The Endowed Lectureship in Pediatrics was created as a means of paying meaningful tribute to the life of Robert M. Heavenrich, MD, a beloved Saginaw pediatrician and a very special member of the College of Human Medicine’s community-based volunteer faculty. The Endowment has served to institutionalize the Lectureship Program, thus assuring its sustained strength in perpetuity.