David Allison Ph.D.

Biographical Sketch

David B. Allison received his Ph.D. from Hofstra University in 1990. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a second post-doctoral fellowship at the NIH-funded New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center. He was a research scientist at the NY Obesity Research Center and Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons until 2001.

In 2001, he joined the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he is currently Distinguished Professor, Quetelet Endowed Professor of Public Health, Associate Dean for Science, Director of Office of Energetics, and Director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC). He has authored over 450 scientific publications and edited five books. He has won several awards, including the 2002 Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from The Obesity Society (TOS) (formerly known as North American Association for the Study of Obesity, NAASO), the 2002 Andre Mayer Award from the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO), and the National Science Foundation Administered 2006 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). In 2009, he was awarded the Centrum Award from the American Society of Nutrition (ASN) and the TOPS research achievement award from the Obesity Society.  In 2013, he was awarded the Alabama Academy of Science's "Wright A. Gardner" award and the American Society of Nutrition's (ASN) "Dannon Institute Mentorship" award.  He was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) in 2007, the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2008, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2009, and inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2013. He holds several NIH grants, including one of the Common Fund's NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (TR01) entitled " Energetics, Disparities, & Lifespan A unified hypothesis".  He has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the International Life Science Institute (ILSI), North America, since 2002 of which he is currently the Chair.  In 2012 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

He serves or has served on the editorial boards of: Journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Metabolism (JDRCM); Behavior Genetics; Clinical Pharmacology: Advances and Applications; Computational Statistics and Data Analysis; European Journal of Clinical Investigation; Global Epidemic Obesity; Human Heredity; International Journal of Eating Disorders; International Journal of Obesity; International Scholarly Research Network (ISRN) Nutrition; Journal of Obesity; Nutrients; Nutrition and Dietary Supplements; Nutrition Today; Obesity Reviews; Obesity; PeerJ; Public Library of Science (PLOS) Genetics and Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD).

Dr. Allison is also proud to be the founding Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Genetics.

Dr. Allison's research interests include obesity, quantitative genetics, clinical trials, and statistical and research methodology. He also serves as a frequent consultant and expert witness in the legal setting.

Press, Press Releases, and Special Announcements in Last 3 Years

1. Society of Scholars inducts new members (Johns Hopkins University - Gazette, April 1, 2013)
2. Myths of Weight Loss Are Plentiful, Researcher Says (The New York Times, January 30, 2013)
3. Top Seven Obesity Myths (UAB Research, January 30, 2013)
4. Allison elected to another prestigious position (UAB News, January 29, 2013)
5. UAB Distinguished Professor David B. Allison elected to Institute of Medicine (UAB News, October 15, 2012)
6. Allison team gets UAB's first Transformative Research Award (UAB News, October 05, 2012)
7. Allison elected to prestigious fellowship (UAB News, May 14, 2012)
8. Allison named to endowed professorship in public health (UAB News, February 06, 2012)
9. David Allison receives medical center's top faculty award (UAB News, September 12, 2011)
10. New scale could help predict obese patients' risk of death (UAB News, August 15, 2011)
11. Allison takes on two new roles in SOPH (UAB News, June 13, 2011)
12. Allison, David (UAB News, Video Interview, 2011)
13. Home temperature, sleep loss tied to obesity: study (Reuters, Feb 23, 2011)
14. Allison appointed distinguished professor (UAB News, February 09, 2011)
15. 'Fat cats' need to watch weight (New York Post, December 12, 2010)
16. Study Shows Animals Are Also Fighting Obesity (Fox, Dec 11, 2010)
17. So why are we getting fatter? Researchers seek a culprit (UAB Reporter, December 13, 2010) (ScienceDaily, November 28, 2010)
18. Animals living with or near people fatter (UPI.com) (November. 27, 2010)
19. Animals getting fatter too (Discovery News) (November 25, 2010) (Faculty of 1000 Ltd, November 24, 2010)
20. Stress, Social Perceptions May Lead to Obesity (NIH Record) (March 19, 2010)

Publications
Search for listing of Dr. Allison's publications -- abstracts are available through the National Library of Science's PubMed service; full-text may be purchased at an additional cost."