January 27, 1997

Chancellor Greenwood to speak in Humanities Lecture Series on February 13

By Theobolt Leung

Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood will discuss the questions "If Thin Is In, Why Are So Many People So Fat?--Obesity: Bad Genes or Bad Behavior?" from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 13, at the Museum of Art and History at the McPherson Center, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception follows.

Greenwood, professor of biology and a well-known researcher in the field of obesity, is February's featured speaker in the Humanities Lecture Series. The series is presented jointly by UCSC's Humanities Division and the Museum of Art and History.

In the last two decades, nutrition experts have advised the public to eat less fat, cut calories, and exercise more. Supermarket shelves now overflow with low-fat foods. Yet national health surveys reveal that since 1980, the percentage of overweight Americans has increased markedly. The latest statistics show that 31 percent of all men and 35 percent of all women over the age of 20 are overweight. Why?

Last year, scientists discovered a molecular signaling mechanism between the body's fat stores and the brain that may determine a person's body weight. Researchers are now trying to grasp how leptin, a newly exposed messenger molecule that carries out this signaling, apparently helps to regulate body weight to within fairly narrow limits over the course of a lifetime. Greenwood will discuss the impacts of these recent findings, which have made scientists optimistic that they may uncover biological answers to this complex problem.

For 25 years, Greenwood has headed and participated in research teams that have examined the complex interplay among metabolism, development, behavior, and genetics that can lead to obesity. Greenwood received her Ph.D. in physiology, developmental biology, and neurosciences from Rockefeller University. She has held faculty positions at Columbia University and Vassar College, where she chaired the Biology Department. She has served as director of the NIH Obesity Research Center Animal Model CORE Laboratory, president of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and chair of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. She currently is vice president of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition.

Greenwood has held the position of UCSC chancellor since July 1, 1996, following seven years at UC Davis as dean of graduate studies and professor of nutrition and internal medicine. From November 1993 to May 1995, Greenwood served as associate director for science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She was recently chosen president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general science organization. President Clinton also has nominated Greenwood to the National Science Board, a 24-member panel that advises on policies for science research and education.

Return to the Currents home page

Go to UCSC's home page