The faculty of the Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship have successfully mentored a variety of trainees within the field of obesity medicine. Below are the experiences of some former trainees in their own words.

Yuval Pinto, MD
Clinician Track, 2024-2025

Undergraduate Education: BSc Physiology and Neurobiology, University of Maryland
Graduate Education: MD, Sackler School of Medicine
Medicine Residency: Family Medicine, Meritus Medical Center

My decision to pursue a fellowship in Obesity Medicine started after realizing that obesity medicine is not just another specialty—it was the key to unlocking transformative healthcare.  As a Family Medicine resident, I witnessed how weight loss could improve and resolve obesity-related chronic conditions that had previously required multiple medications and complex management.  I realized that, by helping patients address their weight, I wasn't just treating one condition—I was providing a powerful intervention and managing a complex disease.  This revelation transformed my approach to medicine from managing diseases to preventing and reversing them.  Pursuing a fellowship in Obesity Medicine at Hopkins allowed me to better understand the complexity of obesity and its complications and to provide evidence-based care that could genuinely change lives.  The program at Hopkins offers a unique exposure through a multi-multidisciplinary approach and close collaboration with specialists committed to provide great care.

Dr. Pinto is an obesity medicine specialist and an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University. He’s passionate about patient education, strength training and evidence-based medicine. 

Jyotsna Ghosh, MD
Clinician Track, 2023-2024

Undergraduate Education: BA Asian Studies, Dartmouth College
Graduate Education: MD, Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Medicine Residency: Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Currently, Dr. Ghosh is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins where she practices as an obesity medicine specialist.

Kacey Chae, MD
Clinician-Investigator Track, 2022 - Present

Undergraduate Education: BA in Biology, University of Virginia
Graduate Education: MD, Eastern Virginia Medical School
Medicine Residency: Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Given my passion for lifestyle counseling and culinary medicine, choosing to do obesity medicine fellowship was the best career decision for me. Every day, I get to walk alongside my patients on their unique weight loss journey and help them reach their health goals. Weight management involves all aspects of an individual's life, so I find the close relationship with my patients extremely rewarding. The breadth and depth of obesity medicine training at Johns Hopkins is unparalleled. Through my fellowship training, I have gained foundational skills in the full spectrum of weight management including lifestyle behavior change, medication management, and recommending different procedural options. What really sets apart Johns Hopkins is the close-knit community of faculty and individualized mentorship that has served as a prime nurturing environment for my career path. I will be pursuing further research training with an ultimate goal to be a clinician investigator developing targeted, feasible, and effective lifestyle interventions to improve health outcomes in older adults with obesity. Obesity medicine is a rapidly growing field with advances in clinical treatment, research, and education, so there is something for everyone!

After she completed her training in obesity medicine, Dr. Chae transitioned to the General Internal Medicine Fellowship Program.  This goal of this program is to prepare general internists to assume faculty and leadership positions in academics, research, and public health.  Dr. Chae is now an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where she is continuing her research on older adults with obesity.

 

Nakul Bhardwaj, DO, MPH, DABOM
Clinician Track, 2021 - 2022

Undergraduate Education: BA in Zoology, Miami University
Graduate Education: MPH, University of Cincinnati
DO, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic
Medicine Residency: Internal Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic

I had the pleasure and honor of being the first obesity medicine clinician track fellow in the Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship program. I knew early on in residency that my interests lie within this field. To connect with a patient and help address a condition they feel most vulnerable about is a rewarding experience. When I searched for a training program, I knew I would succeed in a collegial environment that had an abundance of research opportunities, a diverse patient population, and ample opportunities for mentorship to help guide me towards my own goals. The Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship did just that. The faculty at Johns Hopkins, including Drs. Gudzune and Rajagopal, go above and beyond to mentor their fellows and provide them support throughout training. As the clinician track training is just 12 months in duration, such mentorship in a short period of time is crucial and was formative in my own development as an obesity medicine specialist. The multidisciplinary nature of the weight management clinic provides a variety of experiences to the fellow that is second to none. Collaboration with specialists such as bariatric surgeons, behavioral health therapists, exercise physiologists, hepatologists, endocrinologists, and sleep medicine specialists (to name a few), further enhanced my learning and helped me become a more comprehensive physician. The experiences from this fellowship have been crucial to my development and to the appropriate care of my future patients. Furthermore, these experiences would benefit any clinician, as obesity is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems and specialties. For anyone considering further training within obesity medicine, I highly recommend the Johns Hopkins Obesity Medicine Fellowship.

Dr. Bhardwaj is currently a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Utah.  Prior to pursuing additional specialized training, he practiced as an obesity medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins. He is passionate about addressing obesity and its complications in a multidisciplinary setting.  While at Johns Hopkins, he utilized his additional time to research models to personalize treatments for patients, teach residents/students principles in managing obesity and its co-morbidities, and create a clinical care pathway for patients receiving endoscopic bariatric procedures for obesity.


Carolyn Bramante, MD MPH

During my T32 General Internal Medicine (GIM) Clinical Research Fellowship, I completed clinical training in obesity medicine and sat for the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM) certification exam under the guidance of Dr. Gudzune. Learning obesity medicine from Dr. Gudzune was an amazing opportunity. She was one of the first ABOM-certified physicians in the entire Johns Hopkins Health System, and built the medical weight management clinic here. She has in-depth knowledge of obesity as a complex biopsychosocial disease, and great expertise in the scientific evidence behind behavioral, pharmacologic, and procedural interventions for obesity. Dr. Gudzune also served as my primary mentor in obesity clinical research during my GIM fellowship training, which lead to several successful projects and peer-reviewed publications. As a mentor and teacher, Dr. Gudzune skillfully guided me through the clinical training process while continuing my research training and progress. She was always available to answer questions regarding clinical care as well as research. I would highly recommend pursuing obesity medicine fellowship training at Johns Hopkins, as it was the most formative experience in my medical career to date.

Currently, Dr. Bramante is faculty at the University of Minnesota where she practices as an obesity medicine specialist for both adults and children, as well as has a clinical research portfolio related to obesity care with a particular emphasis on self-weighing as an intervention strategy.

Back to Obesity Medicine Fellowship Home