Shook Receives K01 Award to Study Metabolism, Appetite, and Physical Activity in Adolescents

Robin Shook, PhD, Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles and the Department of Pediatrics, was recently bestowed a 5-year, $725,770 K01 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

Dr. Shook’s “Metabolism, Appetite, and Physical Activity in Adolescents” will examine factors that lead to the development of childhood obesity. The project will include two studies focusing on the interaction between energy balance, insulin sensitivity, and appetite regulation in adolescent boys and girls. Dr. Ann Davis, director of the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles, and Dr. John Thyfault, scientific director for the Center, are also on the project; both are faculty at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

“Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century, given the prevalence, global reach, and widespread health, economic, and social consequences. While weight gain at the most basic level is due to a chronic energy surplus, there are a host of influences that act on the energy balance system that remain largely unknown. Thus, there is a critical need to identify previously unexamined factors that may influence the energy balance system (energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy storage) in order to develop effective public health obesity interventions for prevention and treatment,” Dr. Shook wrote. “This work builds off a line of research that I’ve been leading over the past five years, including pilot projects funded internally by the Marion Merrell Dow Clinical Scholar Award and the Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles. This NIH grant would not be possible without the support of Children’s Mercy. “