David Ludwig

David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, is a practicing endocrinologist, researcher, and professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Ludwig also directs the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. His research focuses on how food affects hormones, metabolism, body weight, and well-being.

Described as an “obesity warrior” by Time magazine, Ludwig has fought for fundamental policy changes to restrict junk food advertising directed at young children, improve the quality of national nutrition programs, and increase insurance reimbursement for obesity prevention and treatment.

He has received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and published over 150 scientific articles and is a Contributing Writer for the medical journal JAMA.

Ludwig is the author of several consumer books about nutrition, diet, and health including Ending the Food Fight: Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World. He appears frequently in national print and broadcast media.

He has published several studies about the causes of obesity in children and adults, and attracted attention for his recommendation that severely obese children be removed from the custody of their parents.

Ludwig lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Dawn, and two children, Joy and Benji.