Dr. Jennifer Baker is President-Elect of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) (2024 – 2027) under the Presidency of Dr. Volkan Yumuk. With a joint ambition to prepare the EASO community of health practitioners, researchers, public health professionals and students for readiness to act, Dr. Baker will be focusing on building health workforce skills during her mandate. She is the Head of Research in Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital- Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg in Denmark. She has been working in the field of obesity for 27 years and is passionate about improving the lives of children and adults living with obesity.
Dr. Baker has long served as part of the EASO leadership. She has been a member of the EASO Executive committee since 2007 and is the former Co-chair of the Childhood Obesity Working Group from 2015 to 2024. Dr. Baker’s leadership extends to serving on international scientific committees in the fields of obesity and cancer, which contribute to shaping research agendas and advancing scientific knowledge. Dr. Baker has over a decade of editorial experience and serves as an Associate Editor for three journals in the field of obesity, demonstrating her commitment to maintaining high standards in scientific publishing. Dr. Baker is an internationally recognized expert in obesity in children and she regularly teaches and speaks at conferences and meetings to disseminate knowledge.
Furthermore, Dr. Baker is an experienced leader of high-impact research projects funded by government and private foundations. Dr. Baker and her team of senior researchers, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students use big data to answer questions about causes and consequences of obesity across the lifecourse. The work of Dr. Baker and her team has demonstrated numerous harmful long-term consequences of obesity in children, including cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. She has published more than 180 papers in the field. Dr. Baker and her team work closely with clinicians and participate in numerous national and international scientific collaborations.
Dr. Baker is active in policy and leveraged her knowledge about the use of big data and obesity to advocate for including obesity in discussions about resilient healthcare systems as well as the European Health Data Space initiative.
In her new role, Dr. Baker looks forward to working collaboratively to further the mission of EASO through focusing on enhanced obesity education as well as through mentoring earlier career clinicians, health care professionals and researchers as to enhance their professional development.