Rate My Professor Andrea Haqq

Dr. Haqq’s research centers on hormonal regulation of food intake, particularly childhood obesity and Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). Her laboratory has conducted foundational studies elucidating ghrelin excess in PWS, metabolic profiling distinguishing PWS from non-genetic obesity, and gut microbiota alterations linked to hyperphagia in PWS. She led one of the first controlled clinical trials of growth hormone in PWS, demonstrating reductions in adipose tissue, increases in lean body mass and resting energy expenditure, contributing to FDA approval for its use. Additional investigations include the 'healthy obese' phenotype, branched-chain amino acid-related metabolic signatures in insulin resistance, the metabolic load-capacity model in pediatric obesity, ectopic fat deposition, and novel anti-obesity pharmacotherapies such as octreotide, ghrelin O-acyltransferase inhibitors, setmelanotide for Bardet-Biedl syndrome, and carbetocin for PWS hyperphagia. Key publications include 'A branched-chain amino acid-related metabolic signature that differentiates obese and lean humans and contributes to insulin resistance' (Cell Metabolism, 2009), 'Serum ghrelin levels are inversely correlated with body mass index, age, and insulin concentrations in normal children and are markedly increased in Prader-Willi syndrome' (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003), 'Poverty, obesity, and malnutrition: an international perspective recognizing the paradox' (Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2007), and 'Complexity and stigma of pediatric obesity' (Childhood Obesity, 2021). With extensive clinical trial expertise, Dr. Haqq leads an international program developing personalized prevention and treatment strategies for pediatric obesity, including dietary, lifestyle, pharmacologic, and surgical interventions.