Robert H. Lustig, MD

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF

Dr. Lustig is a nationally-recognized authority in the field of neuroendocrinology, with a specific emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. He is currently investigating the contribution of biochemical, neural, hormonal, and genetic influences in the expression of the current obesity epidemic both in children and adults. He has defined a syndrome of vagally-mediated beta-cell hyperactivity which leads to insulin hypersecretion and obesity, and which is treatable by insulin suppression. This phenomenon may occur in up to 20% of the obese population. He is interested in the hypothalamic signal transduction of insulin and leptin, and how these two systems interact. He is studying the cardiovascular morbidity associated with hyperinsulinemia, and developing methods to evaluate and prevent this phenomenon in children. He is also analyzing the contribution of the autonomic nervous system to insulin secretion and insulin resistance in obese children, and the utility of assessing insulin dynamics in targeting obesity therapy.

Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He performed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and his clinical fellowship at UCSF. From there, he spent six years as a post-doctoral fellow in neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University in New York.

Dr. Lustig has authored over 70 research articles and 35 chapters.  He is the Chairman of the Obesity Task Force of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, a member of the Obesity Task force of The Endocrine Society, and on the Steering Committee of the International Endocrine Alliance to Combat Obesity.

ARTICLES

UCSF’s Lustig Discusses the Role of Fructose in Pediatric Obesity

“Childhood obesity: behavioral aberration or biochemical drive? Reinterpreting the First Law of Thermodynamics”

came out on August 12, 2006, coverage listed below.

Read Robert H. Lustig's journal review article

Read San Francisco Chronicle article
Obese? A 'poisoned' food supply may be to blame, UCSF expert says Doctor has yet to test theory that sugar triggers a starvation reaction in the brain

Listen to KQED Forum appearance
Assesses a recent hypothesis on obesity, and how sugar may trigger a starvation reaction in the brain

On the Spot: Dr. Lustig Responds UCSF Today

Contact Information

University of California, San Francisco
513 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143-0434
Campus Box 0434, S-679

Ph: 415-502-8672
Fax: 415-476-8214
Email: rlustig@peds.ucsf.edu