Photo courtesy of Destination DC

On March 3, President Obama will visit Milwaukee to celebrate the city's victory in the Healthy Communities Challenge. The White House launched the challenge in November during the third open enrollment period in an effort to increase the number of Americans enrolled in health insurance plans. Twenty cities participated, and at the end of the enrollment period, Milwaukee was declared the winner with 89,000 individuals newly registered for health insurance coverage.

As a member of OMA, we hope you are dedicated not only to providing the best possible care for your patients, but to helping patients across the country access evidence-based treatment for obesity. To ensure there are enough qualified providers to help every patient affected by obesity, we need your help to grow the field of obesity medicine. Refer your colleagues, peers, friends, and family in the health care profession, and allow us to change the way they treat obesity.

To help you refer, we created an easy online form and materials explaining why to make the switch to obesity medicine and what it means to be a member of OMA. Share these, proudly display your membership, and help us extend our reach to more health care professionals in this country!

It's been almost a year since Drs. Krishna Doniparthi and Wickham Simonds pledged to grow their hair in support of the Obesity Treatment Foundation. In April, we'll measure both doctors' hair to determine how many inches of growth they achieved in one year. There's still time to make your pledge for every inch of hair growth. And, to make it even more interesting, both Dr. Doniparthi and Dr. Simonds promised to match the pledges they receive on their hair up to $5,000. Help us unlock $10,000 in total matching gifts by making your pledge--$25 per inch will help us get there! To make your pledge, contact Stacy Schmidt at stacy@obesitytreatmentfoundation.org.

Dr. Doniparthi before (left) and after 11 months of hair growth

We asked Dr. Krishna Doniparthi about growing his hair this past year and why he supports the Obesity Treatment Foundation (OTF).

1. What inspired you to do this hair growth challenge? The idea of growing our hair as a fundraiser for OTF came from Dr. Wickham Simonds. Dr. Simonds and I are both enthusiastic about being practitioners of obesity medicine. The funny thing is that we both have always maintained fairly short haircuts, so we knew we would be out of our comfort zones.

2. What surprised you most about growing your hair for this long? I wonder how so many women do such a great job of managing long hair. What's most aggravating is the wind; it's very annoying after having spent a lot of time styling my hair just right.

3. What do you wish other people knew about OTF and the field of obesity medicine? OTF is the clinician's arm for research. There is so much to know and learn about obesity medicine. OTF bridges the clinical research gap that is most needed by those who are on the front line helping patients who have obesity. The research will be relevant to every-day practice. OMA members and others in the field need cutting-edge research that they can use on Monday morning.