Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada in Nutrition and Metabolic Health

Government of Canada priority area: Health, including biotechnology 

Obesity and poor metabolic health affect millions of Canadians and place a significant burden on individuals, families and the health-care system. At the same time, ultra-processed foods account for about half the calories consumed in Canada, while new obesity medications are rapidly changing how cardiometabolic diseases are treated. Important questions remain about how food environments and obesity treatments affect appetite, metabolism and long-term health.

The proposed research program of the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada in Nutrition and Metabolic Health will examine how food environments and obesity medications interact to influence eating behaviour, body weight and cardiometabolic health. Using controlled human studies, advanced metabolic measurements, neuroimaging and computational modeling, the program will generate evidence to better understand the causes and treatment of obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.

This research aims to improve prevention and treatment strategies while supporting more personalized approaches to obesity care. The findings will benefit patients and health-care professionals, inform public policy and dietary guidance, and support innovation in the food and pharmaceutical sectors.

The program aligns with the Government of Canada’s priority area of health, including biotechnology, by addressing major health challenges affecting Canadians and generating evidence that can improve population health outcomes. It will also create opportunities for collaboration with researchers, health organizations, government agencies, patient groups and industry partners in Canada and internationally.

Kevin Hall was successfully nominated by the University of Ottawa for an Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada in Nutrition and Metabolic Health. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics at  McMaster University and a PhD in physics from McGill University. He began his career as a senior scientist at Entelos Inc. before joining the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he served as tenure-track investigator, senior investigator and chief of the Integrative Physiology Section. He currently serves as senior director and clinical scientist at AstraZeneca. 

His research focuses on nutrition, metabolism, obesity, eating behaviour, ultra-processed foods, neuroscience and computational modeling. He is internationally recognized for developing innovative approaches that combine controlled human feeding studies, metabolic phenotyping, neuroimaging and mathematical modeling to better understand body weight regulation and cardiometabolic health. 

Among his major contributions are landmark studies that demonstrated the effects of ultra-processed foods on energy intake and weight gain, advances in understanding metabolic adaptation during weight loss, and the development of mathematical models that transformed the study of human energy balance.

He has received numerous honours, including the NIH Director’s Award, the E.V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition, the Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from The Obesity Society, and the Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology. He has been recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He has also contributed to international policy and scientific initiatives through participation in CIHR's Best Brains Exchange and the World Health Organization Guideline Development Group on Ultra-Processed Foods.