The 6th Annual National conference of All India Association for Advancing Research in Obesity (AIAARO) held on March 1-2nd 2008 at Hyderabad

The Andhra Pradesh chapter of All India Association of Advancing Research in Obesity has hosted the 6th National Annual conference at GMC Alumni Education Centre, Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad on March 1st and 2nd 2008

The AIAAROCON 2008 organizing committee was chaired by Dr. N. Sudhakar Rao, Co-chaired by Dr. U. S. Jagdish Chandra, Organising Secretary – Dr. P. Janaki Srinath, Joint Secretary – Dr. Naunihal Singh and the treasurer was– Dr. Latha Sashi.

The Theme was: Obesity Today’s Challenges

The conference had the aim to bring to fore the concerns of increasing obesity rates in India and the appropriate management taking inputs from leaders in obesity research from causes to implications.

We had 300 registered delegates coming from all parts of India participating in the conference i.e. Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chennai, Bangladesh etc., The delegates were from various specializations like Endocrinologists, Gastroenterologists, Obstetricians, Pediatricians, Bariatic Surgeons, Physicians, Nutritionists etc.

For the first time we had initiated awards for best posters and oral presentations.
Leading researchers and practitioners in the field of obesity were invited as the faculty.

Scientific program highlights:

	Genesis of Obesity – Understanding the basics – Dr. Jayanthy Ramesh
	What aspects of body fat are dangerous and how do we measure them? – Dr. A Laxmaiah
	Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ - Dr. Anoop Mishra
	Maternal obesity in pregnancy - Dr. Evita Fernandez
	Impact of life style management on metabolic parameters - Dr. Rakesh Sahay
	Obesity in asian indian phenotype - Dr. Anoop Mishra
	Treatment related weight gain in diabetes - Dr. H. B. Chandalia
	Dietary management of obesity more than calories & macronutrients - Ms. Niti Desai
	Pharmacological treatment to obesity scope-monitoring limitation & new avenues - Dr. Bipin Sethi
	Innovative physical activity models, what should the clinician’s advice? - Dr. Bakhtiar Chowdhary
	Current status of bariatric surgery in Asia - Dr. P. L. Chowbhey
	Obesity & Gut - Dr. D. Nageshwar Reddy
	Bariatric procedures and perioperative care of obese - Dr. Mahidhar Valeti
	Metabolic impact of bariatric surgery - Dr. Ramen Goel
	Childhood Obesity: Early nutrition programming and health outcome in later life - Dr. P. Raghupathi
	Successful models for prevention of childhood obesity - Ms. Anika Singh
	Protocols for management of childhood obesity: How, when and what? - Dr. P. Raghupathi
	Principles and practices for behavioral treatment of obesity - Dr. Jitendra Nagpal
	Management strategies at the community level to combat obesity - Dr. G. R. Sridhar

The 2nd Dr. Vinodh Dhurandhars oration was delivered by Dr. Rama vaidya on the subject “Pro inflammatory cytokines - A common link for sarcopenic obesity, metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis”

We also had a Guest Lecture on Managing diabesity - growing challenge by Dr. Michael. A. Bush from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “USA”

The best poster award was given to Ms. Priti Apte on her poster “Relative performance of different indicators for assessing obesity and High blood pressure…” and the second best poster award was given to Ms. Shabana Thakar for her poster “Obesity and CVD risk among the Chennai city male police personnel”

On the first day of conference we had a Panel Discussion on Team Management of Obesity and on the second day we had an open forum on Obesity / weight loss from patient’s perspective.

The conference was very well covered by the media.