There is limited insight into the mechanisms, progression, and related comorbidities of obesity through simple modeling tools, such as linear regression. Dr. John Dawson, postdoctoral trainee in the department of biostatistics, section on statistical genetics, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham—in collaboration with Dr. David B. Allison, director of UAB’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC)—recently presented as part of a symposium at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN)Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2014.

[Photo: Dr. John Dawson]

Keeping in mind the words of the late statistician Dr. George E. P. Box that “all models are wrong, some are useful,” the symposium focused on four useful mathematical models and methodological refinements, with specific emphasis on how these novel models and methodologies can be applied to further knowledge of the etiology of obesity.

“Novel Mathematical Models for Investigating Topics in Obesity” was published in September 2014 in the journal Advances in Nutrition.

Journal article: http://advances.nutrition.org/content/5/5/561.short