University Hospitals Case Medical Center has appointed a renowned obesity expert and Mayo Clinic veteran as the new chief of its endocrinology division.
Dr. James Levine, who’s drawn attention as an inventor of one of the first treadmill desks, will begin working at University Hospitals (UH) on Nov. 1, according to a statement from the Cleveland hospital system. Levine currently is a professor of medicine, physiology and bioengineering at Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic.
Levine’s research has shown that thin people burn about 350 more calories in a day than overweight people by doing low-intensity physical activity such as walking around the office. The major focal points of his research have been understanding “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” (spontaneous physical activity), human movement and body weight.
Levine authored a 2009 book on non-exercise activity thermogenesis, called “Move a Little, Lose a Lot.”
His innovations include the treadmill desk, which allows office workers to continuously walk at about 1 m.p.h. while going about their daily routine at a standup desk. Levine’s treadmill desk is now produced as “The Walkstation” by Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Steelcase Inc.
Dr. Richard Walsh, chairman of medicine at UH Case Medical Center, praised Levine for his “dynamic ideas on weight loss.”
“He is one of the most innovative thinkers in this area of medicine, and I am thrilled to have him join our department,” Walsh said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Here’s a video of Levine discussing the benefits of the treadmill desk:
