Friedman Diabetes Institute

Lisa Neff, MD, MS
Clinical Scholar – Instructor of Clinical Investigation
Associate Attending Physician-Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Friedman Fellow in Diabetes and Metabolism, (2003-2006)
Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA

Mentor: Dr. Lechan

Recent Work
Dr. Neff is currently an Instructor of Clinical Investigation at Rockefeller University and an Associate Attending Physician at Rockefeller University Hospital. She recently accepted a position (to begin 10/09) as an Assistant Professor in the Clinician Scientist track at Northwestern University’s new Comprehensive Center on Obesity and the Division of Endocrinology. In this capacity, Dr. Neff will be responsible for developing new clinical and research programs addressing obesity and related metabolic derangements, including diabetes.

Dr. Neff is a Contributing Editor for Nutrition Reviews, a monthly peer-reviewed publication edited at Tufts University. For many years, she has been actively involved in educating medical students, physicians, allied health professionals, and the general public, particularly in the fields of nutrition and obesity. In 2008, she presented a discussion of nutrition, physical activity, and aging for 300 individuals attending a Health and Wellness Retreat in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Neff is the Principal Investigator of two ongoing clinical studies at Rockefeller University. One study, entitled “Dietary Interventions for Insulin Resistance and the Metabolic Syndrome,” is a pilot study comparing the metabolic effects of the DASH diet, a low glycemic index diet, and an American-style diet, with and without weight loss, in the treatment of obese volunteers with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. The preliminary results suggest that clinically significant improvements in insulin sensitivity (and other features of the metabolic syndrome) are possible with dietary changes, even in the absence of weight loss. These results were presented at the National Institutes of Health Metabolic Unit and at Beth Israel Medical Center’s Friedman Diabetes Center in 2009. Plans are being made to launch a fully-powered clinical trial assessing the metabolic effects of the three dietary patterns in the absence of weight loss.

The second study, entitled “The Natural History of Obesity and Associated Conditions Before, During, and After Treatment with Conventional Therapies,” was designed to investigate how behavioral, genetic, metabolic, and environmental factors influence patients’ weight loss and long-term weight management in response to conventional obesity therapies. A cohort of obese individuals have been studied before, during, and after treatment with a variety of therapies, including lifestyle modification, therapeutic diets, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. The final data collection is now in progress.

Dr. Neff is also a Co-Investigator for a study entitled “Obesity-Associated Colorectal Inflammation; the Effects of Weight Loss.” This study was designed to investigate a hypothesized link between excess weight, colonic inflammation, and colon cancer.