Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington Dean David B. Allison was presented with the 2017 Thomas A. Wadden Award for Distinguished Mentorship during The Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting this week.

The Thomas A. Wadden Award for Distinguished Mentorship honors a mid-career or senior The Obesity Society member for distinguished mentorship of the Society’s members who were in their early careers at the time of the mentoring relationship. The award is named for Professor Thomas Wadden, Ph.D. of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who for more than 30 years has mentored dozens of scientist-practitioners who have pursued successful careers in obesity research and clinical care.

Throughout his years as a member of The Obesity Society, Allison has mentored dozens of students, post-doctoral fellows, and young faculty members. He enjoys helping them rise to the challenges of interdisciplinary research, appreciate the beauty and wonder of discovery, and develop an abiding commitment to the pursuit and communication of truth through science.

“[Dr. Allison] could not be more deserving of the Society’s award as this is a nomination by your peers,” said Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D., F.T.O.S., Chair of the 2017 Awards Committee. “Congratulations on a well-deserved honor.”

Allison joined the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington in August 2017 after most recently serving as associate dean for research and science in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While at UAB, he was also a Distinguished Professor, the Quetelet Endowed Professor, director of the Office of Energetics and director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center.

Allison is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical societies in the world. His research includes a breadth of activity — including basic science using drosophila (fruit flies), rodent models, epidemiology, human clinical trials, statistical methodology, meta-analysis, mathematical models and human behavioral research — and engages in cross-disciplinary collaborations with scientists from many academic backgrounds.

Allison received his Ph.D. in clinical and school psychology from Hofstra University in 1990; his master’s degree in clinical and school psychology at Hofstra in 1987; and his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Vassar College in 1985.