In this issue:
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Match Day 2025: Congratulations to our MSSI Alumni!
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Evidence-Based Archives
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Find us on Instagram!
Match Day 2025: Celebrating our MSSI Alumni!
Match Day marks an incredible milestone for medical students as they take the next step in their careers. As we celebrate our graduates, we recognize the dedication, resilience, and passion that have brought them here. We are proud of our MSSI alumni and their commitment to patient-centered, size-inclusive care. Join us in celebrating their achievements and wishing them success in the next chapter of their medical journeys!
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Jessica MuiPediatrics at Nemours Children’s Hospital / Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Jessica is a graduate of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) in Camden, NJ. She is one of the founders of MSSI and has served as the organization’s president since its inception in 2022. Her leadership and dedication have helped shape MSSI into a thriving community committed to size-inclusive care. As she embarks on her peds residency, Jess remains deeply committed to advocacy and education. She will continue her work with both the Association for Weight and Size Inclusive Medicine (AWSIM) and MSSI, ensuring that the next generation of physicians is equipped to provide compassionate, evidence-based care for patients of all sizes. |
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Madeline BredaOB/GYN at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University As one of the original cofounders of MSSI, I continue to be overwhelmed with pride at each new step our organization takes. What started as an ambitious and idealistic idea has grown into a movement, empowering medical students and working physicians alike to advocate for the needs of people of all sizes, and specifically those in bigger bodies. I hope to carry my commitment to size inclusivity into my work in the realm of reproductive health, keeping in mind the unique challenges that people in bigger bodies face in seeking obstetric and gynecological care. I look forward to seeing what else MSSI accomplishes in the years to come! I can be reached at: madelinebreda@gmail.com
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Hannah WeismanEmergency Medicine at NYP Queens I am one of the co-founders of MSSI and have served in the role of Director of Research and general member of MSSI. I am so excited and proud of the direction MSSI has grown and am certain in how it will continue to grow and make an impact in the medical field. I will be bringing much of the knowledge and conversation/research pieces I learned throughout my time in MSSI into my practice as an Emergency Physician. I am currently looking into creating a platform for resident physicians to create and share didactic sessions that are specialty specific and are centered around the values of MSSI. For anyone who would like to get in touch with me, please send an email to hannaheweisman@gmail.com
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Erin SanzonePM&R at Mt. Sinai in NY I worked with Jess at the very beginning of the Cooper Chapter to get it started and since then I have watched it grow into a multi-institutional group. I helped with social media originally then moved into the Research Team. It has been so rewarding listening to leaders in the field inspire change. I hope to continue in the future with MSSI! I can be reached at erinsanzone1@gmail.com |
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Annika BallantyneFamily Medicine at the University of MN Medical Center/Smiley’s Clinic in Minneapolis, MN My name is Annika Ballantyne (she/her), and I will be graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School in the spring of 2025. During medical school, I was involved in my school’s chapter of Medical Students for Size Inclusivity and helped plan local educational events for students. I also collaborated with a team of students through the Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine to create an educational guide on the topic of weight stigma in healthcare. I am committed to practicing size inclusive medicine and advocating for change in spaces where I practice as a future family physician! Contact info: E: tures007@umn.edu | P: 612-723-8375 |
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Rachel ParksMed-Peds at Penn/CHOP I am planning to go into primary care and have a weight-neutral, non-stigmatizing practice that is a safe place for both children and adults. I know I still have a lot to learn (and un-learn) when it comes to weight- and size-inclusive medicine and I am looking forward to continuing this journey during residency! I can be reached at parks.rachel.e@gmail.com |
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Sarah LeonardGeneral Surgery, University of Maryland I can be reached at sleonard314@gmail.com
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Sarah LevineInternal Medicine, Yale Primary Care I can be reached at levines0925@gmail.com
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Kira FuriePM&R at Northwestern/Shirley Ryan I can be reached at kira.furie@gmail.com
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If you’re a graduating MSSI alum and don’t see your name or photo in this newsletter, email Sophie at lalondeb@ualberta.ca—we’d love to feature you in our next edition!
Evidence-Based Archives
MSSI is excited to present another installment of “Evidence-Based Archives,” our monthly column highlighting and summarizing seminal research in the field of size-inclusive healthcare. In this section, we hope to celebrate our scholars, empower each other with knowledge, and stock up on citations for the next time we’re called upon to justify size-inclusive healthcare in the classroom, clinic or wards!
Content warning: Medicalized fatphobia, ob*sity, anti-fat language
Disclaimer: We use the terms “ob*sity” and “overw*ight” in our summaries when it is otherwise impossible to accurately describe findings from certain studies, due to the language and descriptors chosen by researchers. We acknowledge the inaccuracies and harms that these labels have perpetuated in medicine and society. Please keep your mental health in mind when reading, and feel free to reach out to us with any feedback or suggestions at any time!
This month’s highlight
In their 2021 review (iScience, DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102995), Gaesser and Angadi make a compelling case that cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity are far more meaningful indicators of health than weight or BMI. They highlight that:
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The mortality risk associated with obesity is largely attenuated—or eliminated—by moderate-to-high cardiorespiratory fitness or physical activity.
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Exercise improves cardiometabolic health independent of weight loss.
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Intentional weight loss is not consistently linked with lower mortality risk.
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Increases in cardiorespiratory fitness or physical activity are more strongly associated with reduced mortality than intentional weight loss.
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Weight cycling is harmful and linked to increased mortality risk.
All of this aligns well with what many in the size-inclusive and weight-neutral health space have been saying for decades: health behaviours matter more than body size. So, it’s frustrating that the authors continue to frame these findings within the paradigm of “treating obesity.”
Despite the clear evidence that fitness is protective regardless of weight, the article opens with classic obesity epidemic fear-mongering and continues to pathologize fatness. It reinforces the assumption that fat bodies must be “treated,” even when the data say otherwise. For instance, their surprise at the so-called “metabolically healthy obese” phenotype only serves to reinforce weight stigma—why do we still need to qualify health with weight-based labels?
This article acknowledges that weight-centric approaches are ineffective and unsustainable. Yet, it clings tightly to the goal of reducing obesity prevalence—as though that in itself is a public health victory.
This is a prime example of how anti-fat bias can sneak into scientific literature, even in papers that claim to challenge traditional weight-focused thinking. Until researchers are ready to de-center weight as the problem, even well-intentioned science will continue to uphold the very bias it claims to dismantle
Thoughts?
We are open to feedback and interested in the lived experiences of our MSSI members. Have you referenced this article in your clinical work, used it to guide patient counseling, or used it to communicate with your colleagues? How did it go?
Feel free to share your stories, reflections, expertise, and advice using the links below. With your permission, we may publish reflections in future installments of this column.
If you have a favorite article you’d like us to highlight in our next installment, feel free to submit it for consideration, also by using the link below! We look forward to hearing from you!
Find us on social media!
Instagram post by @sizeinclusivemedicine
This newsletter was authored by MSSI members Sophie Lalonde-Bester (University of Alberta) and Jay Liu (Stanford University).