Healthy Weight HIT welcomes new co-director

Dr Ruth Mears has been appointed as a new co-director for Bristol Health Partners’ Healthy Weight Health Integration Team (HIT).

The Healthy Weight HIT brings partners together to improve research on preventing and treating overweight and obesity that will then support system-wide decision-making. It aims to contribute to improved strategies to reduce overweight and obesity, and to improved efficiency across the health and care system.

Ruth has been involved with the HIT since it started in 2021.

As a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Bristol she is part of a national working group which is developing an accessible summary of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) nutritional guidance for GPs, which make pre- and post-operative recommendations for bariatric surgery patients.

Previously as NIHR In-Practice Research Fellow in Primary Care, Ruth was part of a team mapping weight management services provided by acute NHS trusts for children living with obesity: their findings were published in BMJ Open. She has also contributed towards the development of evidence-based guidance aimed at parents to help them talk confidently and positively to children about weight.

She says:

“I’m delighted to start as co-director for the Healthy Weight HIT.  We need to adopt a whole systems approach to obesity and the Healthy Weight HIT facilitates this by bringing together a wide network of people, to further research in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity.”

Ruth replaces previous HIT co-director Dr James Nobles, who is now Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University Obesity Institute. The HIT would like to thank James for his valued input and for his contribution to research and service improvement in the region. James remains involved in research related to the HIT.