Lee M. Kaplan, MD, PhD, is the director of the Obesity, Metabolism, and Nutrition Institute (OMNI), founding director of the Weight Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). His research focuses on the role of the gastrointestinal tract and gut microbiota in the regulation of energy balance and metabolic function, including the mechanism of action of bariatric and metabolic surgery.

Dr. Kaplan is the president of The Obesity Society, director of the subspecialty fellowship program in Obesity Medicine and Nutrition at MGH, director of the Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chair of the U.S. Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council, and associate director of theNational Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored Nutrition and Obesity Research Center at Harvard.

Dr. Kaplan has served in several advisory roles to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, including most recently as a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, member of the Clinical Obesity Research Panel, and member of the Center for Scientific Review Advisory Panel.