Adipose Neighborhoods: Depot-Dependent Biology and Metabolic Health - The 2026 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture and Student Awards

Chair(s)

• 

  Judith Storch, PhD

  Distinguished Professor, Nutritional Sciences
  Rutgers University
  New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Speaker(s)

• 

  Susan Fried, PhD (she/her/hers)

  Visiting Scientist
  Rutgers Univ.
  New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Presenting Author(s)

• 

  Maurya Hart, MSc, RD (she/her/hers)

  MSc Student
  Department of Nutritional Sciences
  University of Toronto
  Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• JK

  Judy Kim, PhD

  Ph.D.
  Nutrition
  University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  Sunderland, Massachusetts, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

The George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research is presented to a physician, clinician or investigator who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the field of obesity research. This award is designed to recognize an individual whose lifetime body of work includes meaningful contributions and/or demonstration of highly original, sustained, and reproducible scholarship that has made major contributions to the understanding of the causes, treatment and/or prevention of obesity.

This award is endowed by Dr. George A. Bray and his wife, Marilyn M. Bray. Additionally, the George Bray Obesity Research Student Awards recipients will present about their research during this session.

Presentations:

• 2:30 PM - 2:35 PM ET

  Welcome and Introductions - 2026 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture
  

  Chair: Judith Storch, PhD – Rutgers University
• 2:35 PM - 3:15 PM ET

  Adipose Neighborhoods: Depot-Dependent Biology and Metabolic Health - 2026 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture
  

  Speaker: Susan K. Fried, PhD (she/her/hers) – Rutgers Univ.
• 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM ET

  Panel Discussion / Questions and Answers - 2026 George Bray Outstanding Scientific Achievements Award in Obesity Research Lecture
  

  Chair: Judith Storch, PhD – Rutgers University

  Speaker: Susan K. Fried, PhD (she/her/hers) – Rutgers Univ.
• 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM ET

  Fluctuation of Energy and Hormones Attenuates PPARgamma and Remodels Lipid Droplet-Coating Proteins in a Yo-Yo Model of Human Adipocytes
  

  Presenting Author: Judy Kim, PhD – University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Co-Author: Young-Cheul Kim – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  Co-Author: Soonkyu Chung – University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 3:45 PM - 4:00 PM ET

  Paternal Preconception Adherence to a Prudent Diet Is Associated With Offspring’s Cardiometabolic Health: The CHILD Cohort Study
  

  Presenting Author: Maurya Hart, MSc, RD (she/her/hers) – University of Toronto

  Co-Author: Zheng Hao Chen, BSc – University of Toronto

  Co-Author: Theo J. Moraes, MD, PhD – The Hospital for Sick Children

  Co-Author: Elinor Simons, MD, PhD – University of Manitoba

  Co-Author: Piushkumar J. Mandhane, MD, PhD – University of Alberta

  Co-Author: Stuart E. Turvey, MBBS, DPhil – University of British Columbia

  Co-Author: Padmaja Subbarao, MD, MSc – The Hospital for Sick Children

  Co-Author: Kozeta Miliku, MD, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Toronto