Carlos Grilo
Yale University, CT·Medicine & Clinical Research
Metabolic and bariatric surgery, operations on the stomach and digestive tract to treat severe obesity, is the most effective treatment for that condition. On average it brings large improvements in weight and related illnesses.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
Pharmacology
- Topics
bariatric surgery
obesity
loss-of-control eating
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Test whether behavioral weight loss, the medication naltrexone/bupropion, or both reduce loss-of-control eating and improve weight in 160 post-bariatric-surgery patients, using a 16-week double-blind, placebo-controlled 2×2 trial.
- Determine whether continuing naltrexone/bupropion for 12 weeks gives better long-term maintenance than placebo among patients whose loss-of-control eating improved in the first stage.
- Explore whether switching non-responders to lisdexamfetamine, a medication approved for binge-eating disorder, improves eating and weight outcomes compared with placebo over 12 weeks.
- Track loss-of-control eating, weight and related outcomes with blinded monthly assessments during treatment and follow-ups at 6 and 12 months after treatment ends.
More about the research
But results vary widely, and many patients regain weight and see those illnesses return. The only reliable predictor of poorer weight loss that patients can change is loss-of-control eating, the feeling of being unable to stop eating that is the core of binge eating. It affects about 30% of patients after surgery, and there is little guidance on how to treat it.
Why it matters
Many people who have bariatric surgery for severe obesity regain weight, especially the roughly 30% with loss-of-control eating. This trial could give clinicians evidence on which behavioral and drug treatments work after surgery, whether to keep patients on a weight-loss medication, and whether switching drugs helps those who do not respond at first.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kishore Gadde
University of California-Irvine, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether topiramate, phentermine or their combination, added to lifestyle counseling, produces greater percent weight loss at 12 months than placebo in adults who regained weight after bariatric surgery, using a double-blind SMART trial.
Andrea Graham
Northwestern University, IL·Psychology
Identify which of five evidence-based treatment targets in the FoodSteps mobile program reduce binge eating for which adults with obesity, by randomly delivering one target to each user every week in a 16-week micro-randomized trial.
Rebecca Krukowski
University of Virginia, VA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test the effect of five lifestyle components on 12-month weight loss in 608 adults taking second-generation anti-obesity medications, using a 2x2x2x2x2 factorial trial. The components are an education session, phone coaching, and digital diet, activity and weight self-monitoring.
The school
Yale University: 73 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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