Scant obesity training in medical school leaves docs ill-prepared to help patients

Tong Yan grew up in a Chinese-American enclave of Los Angeles in a family that revered food, but thought little of those who carried excess weight.

"Definitely there was like an implicit fattist kind of perspective, like small comments that are made about people's weight," Yan says. Obesity did not affect him or his family, but a friend — who wasn't even that heavy — became the butt of jokes. "Also implied was that people who are obese are lazy and not motivated," he recalls.

It wasn't until medical school at George Washington University, that Yan thought deeper about weight stigma, which is widespread in U.S. culture. In year two, he attended an educational summit on obesity put on by one of his professors. As part of the summit, Yan took an implicit bias test that identified his slight