Medical specialties
Obesity Medicine Diploma
Register interest
An evidence-led diploma in obesity medicine: how to assess and treat people living with obesity as a chronic disease, what diet, activity, behavioural support, medicines such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, and bariatric surgery can and cannot do, and how to talk about weight without stigma.
Twenty-five weekly sessions across five modules take you from the biology and assessment of obesity, through nutrition, activity and behaviour and the medicines and their long-term outcomes, to surgery, complex care and every stage of life, anchored on guidance from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the European societies and taught live by practising specialists you can question.
- Course director
- To be announced
- Format
- 25 live weekly sessions on Zoom, in 5 modules
- Fee
- £1,200 (scholarships available)
- Dates
- Confirmed when enrolment opens
Who it is for
Senior trainees, fellows and early-career consultants who care for people living with obesity, and physicians, GPs and allied specialists who run or refer to weight management services, worldwide.
The programme
25 one-hour sessions in 5 modules, each with its learning objectives. This is the draft programme: the course director reviews and refines it before enrolment opens, so session titles may change.
Module 1 · Sessions 1 to 5Understanding and assessing obesity
1. Defining and diagnosing obesity
- Measure and interpret BMI and waist-to-height ratio, including ethnicity-adjusted thresholds
- Distinguish clinical from preclinical obesity using the 2025 Commission criteria
- Stage obesity-related health risk using the Edmonton Obesity Staging System
- Explain to a patient why obesity is treated as a chronic, relapsing disease
2. Causes and biology of obesity
- Describe how appetite and energy balance are regulated and why weight regain occurs
- Identify features that suggest monogenic obesity and refer for genetic testing
- Review and change medicines that cause weight gain
- Decide when to test for endocrine causes of weight gain
3. Weight stigma and the clinical conversation
- Recognise weight bias in clinical practice and its effect on care
- Use person-first, non-stigmatising language in consultations and records
- Open a conversation about weight by asking permission
- Apply motivational interviewing to agree goals with a person living with obesity
4. Assessing the person living with obesity
- Take a structured weight history, including previous treatments and triggers
- Screen for obesity-related complications with appropriate tests
- Prioritise the complications that change the treatment plan
- Agree realistic, health-focused goals with the patient
5. Eating disorders, mental health and obesity
- Screen for binge eating disorder and other eating disorders before starting weight treatment
- Refer people with a suspected eating disorder to the right service
- Manage weight gain caused by antipsychotic medicines
- Recognise when mental health needs to be addressed before weight treatment
Module 2 · Sessions 6 to 10Nutrition, activity and behaviour
6. Dietary approaches that work
- Compare the evidence for the main dietary approaches to weight loss
- Select people for a total diet replacement programme and monitor them safely
- Adjust diabetes and blood pressure medicines during rapid weight loss
- Give practical dietary advice that fits culture and budget
7. Physical activity and preserving muscle
- Prescribe physical activity in line with the UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines
- Explain the role of activity in weight maintenance as well as weight loss
- Advise resistance training to protect muscle during weight loss
- Adapt activity plans for people with joint pain or disability
8. Behavioural programmes and weight management services
- Describe the components of an effective behavioural weight management programme
- Refer people to the right tier of weight management service using NICE NG246
- Evaluate digital weight management programmes
- Support self-monitoring and relapse prevention
9. Weight maintenance and weight regain
- Explain the physiological changes that drive weight regain
- Interpret the evidence on weight regain after stopping semaglutide or tirzepatide
- Build a long-term maintenance plan with the patient
- Respond to weight regain without blame
10. Obesity and type 2 diabetes: prevention and remission
- Identify people with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia and offer prevention
- Select people with type 2 diabetes for a remission attempt
- Explain when metabolic surgery is considered for type 2 diabetes
- Choose glucose-lowering medicines that support weight loss
Module 3 · Sessions 11 to 15Medicines for obesity
11. Principles of obesity pharmacotherapy
- Identify people eligible for obesity medicines under NICE criteria
- Choose between the licensed obesity medicines using efficacy, side effects and access
- Apply stopping rules when weight loss is not enough
- Explain how access to obesity medicines differs between the UK and other health systems
12. Semaglutide and tirzepatide in practice
- Summarise the weight loss seen with semaglutide and tirzepatide in the main trials
- Titrate doses and manage gastrointestinal side effects
- Counsel patients on the risks of unregulated weight-loss products
- Explain the place of oral options such as higher-dose oral semaglutide
13. Safety and monitoring of obesity medicines
- Monitor people on obesity medicines for serious adverse effects
- Advise on stopping or continuing obesity medicines before surgery and sedation
- Explain the very rare risk of optic neuropathy with semaglutide
- Give contraception and pregnancy advice to women starting obesity medicines
14. Outcomes beyond weight: heart, kidney, liver and sleep
- Summarise the cardiovascular outcome evidence for semaglutide in people without diabetes
- Identify people whose heart failure, kidney disease or sleep apnoea may improve with treatment
- Assess and manage metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease
- Use outcome evidence to prioritise who receives treatment
15. Long-term treatment and medicines in development
- Discuss long-term or indefinite treatment honestly with patients
- Describe how the main medicines in development work
- Appraise new obesity drug trials critically
- Weigh cost and access when planning long-term treatment
Module 4 · Sessions 16 to 20Surgery and complex care
16. Metabolic and bariatric surgery: who and when
- Identify people who meet criteria for referral for metabolic and bariatric surgery
- Compare the main procedures and their expected outcomes
- Support shared decisions between surgery and medicines
- Prepare a person for referral to a surgical service
17. Long-term care after bariatric surgery
- Monitor nutrition and prescribe supplements after bariatric surgery
- Recognise dumping syndrome and post-bariatric hypoglycaemia
- Adjust diabetes medicines before and after surgery
- Identify late complications that need surgical review
18. Combining medicines, endoscopy and surgery
- Describe the endoscopic options for weight loss and their evidence
- Decide when obesity medicines may help after bariatric surgery
- Plan a sequence of treatments for a person living with severe obesity
- Coordinate care between medical and surgical teams
19. Older adults and sarcopenic obesity
- Diagnose sarcopenic obesity using current European consensus criteria
- Plan weight loss that protects muscle and function in older adults
- Decide when weight loss is not the right goal
- Adjust obesity medicines for older people
20. Obesity, joints and planned surgery
- Advise on weight loss for people with knee and hip osteoarthritis
- Discuss the ethics of BMI thresholds for elective surgery
- Plan preoperative weight loss when it will change outcomes
- Coordinate with anaesthetists on risks for people living with severe obesity
Module 5 · Sessions 21 to 25Life stages, communities and services
21. Children and young people living with obesity
- Assess a child or young person living with obesity together with their family
- Describe family-based behavioural treatment
- Explain the evidence for obesity medicines in adolescents
- Compare UK and US approaches to treating adolescents
22. Obesity, fertility, pregnancy and menopause
- Plan pre-conception weight management for women living with obesity
- Advise on contraception and on stopping weight-loss medicines before conception
- Manage polycystic ovary syndrome in women living with obesity
- Explain weight changes around the menopause and how to manage them
23. Obesity across communities and cultures
- Apply ethnicity-specific risk thresholds in assessment
- Adapt advice to culture, religion and budget
- Reduce barriers to care for people with learning disability or severe mental illness
- Design care that reaches people in deprived communities
24. Obesity in hospital and acute care
- Calculate drug doses for people living with obesity using the right weight measure
- Plan thromboprophylaxis and safe moving and handling
- Recognise when imaging and equipment limits change management
- Protect dignity during hospital care
25. Complex case decisions and running a weight management service
- Apply the course to complex cases in a panel discussion
- Design a multidisciplinary weight management service with clear referral criteria
- Set up safe prescribing governance for obesity medicines
- Choose outcome measures that capture health, not weight alone
What the diploma includes
- 25 live sessions on Zoom, one evening a week, with recordings for the weeks you miss.
- Practising specialists teaching live, so you can put your questions to them.
- Weekly MCQs and a final written assessment.
- A digital certificate carrying your final classification.
Lead or teach the Obesity Medicine Diploma
We are looking for a course director and faculty from the specialty. Sessions are one hour in the UK evening, live on Zoom, and paid.