Obesity Community

Hello distinguished colleagues and members of the AANP Obesity Community. I am thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to serve you for the next two years as community co-chair. I have been a nurse for close to 20 years and am a family NP, nurse scientist, and associate professor and director of special projects and evaluation at the University of South Alabama College of Nursing in Mobile, Alabama. I have been the faculty director of an interprofessional culinary medicine program at my university and am on an interprofessional team of researchers studying health promotion and the prevention and treatment of obesity in multiple vulnerable populations including nursing students. My research team has also studied NP-student observations of obesity bias in clinical settings. I have worked with a team of nursing faculty to implement the AANP Introductory Certificate of Obesity Management in Primary Care modules in advanced practice nursing classes, noting marked improved knowledge of evidence-based practices resulting from this education. I look forward to engaging with you and learning from you, and I want to highlight all the wonderful things you are doing to combat the disease of obesity in practice, research, and education!

Lori A. Wenz, MSN, AGNP-C, BC-ADM, FOMA, is a nationally board-certified NP in adult gerontology and advanced diabetes management, and a Fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association (OMA). An active member of OMA, she has served on a variety of committees including the PA/NP Committee, Continuing Medical Education Committee, the Board of Trustees selection committee (2024) and the Conference Advisory Committee for 2024 and 2025 annual conferences. She was honored to be among 100 national obesity thought leaders invited to participate in the 2025 Obesity Summit hosted by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons (ASMBS) tasked with developing strategies to expand comprehensive obesity care across the nation.

In 2021, Ms. Wenz received the Dr. Raymond E. Dietz Meritorious Service Award from the Obesity Medicine Association in recognition of her service and volunteer contributions. She was awarded the Dr. Peter G. Lindner Award, Obesity Medicine Association in 2025 for her work as a teacher within the scientific community furthering the mission of OMA and recognition of its members.

Ms. Wenz holds a certificate of advanced education in obesity medicine from the OMA and an assessment based certificate from the ASMBS. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), where she currently serves as co-chair of the AANP Obesity Community and leads the working group on obesity competency.

Ms. Wenz served as an associate editor of Obesity Pillars from 2024-2025, and a column editor for Bariatric Times from 2023-2024. She has presented and published on a variety of topics including obesity as a chronic disease; metabolic surgery and devices; diabetes management after metabolic surgery; diabetes remission; continuous glucose monitoring in patients with obesity; weight bias and stigma; motivational interviewing; obesity across the lifespan; treating obesity in the primary care setting; and developing a comprehensive obesity treatment program. Ms. Wenz was a contributing author of the OMA Clinical Practice Statement on stress, psychiatric disease and obesity (Obesity Pillars, 2022). She is the editor of the chapter on obesity in the 2024 revision of “Lewis’s Medical-Surgical Nursing” 13th Edition (Elsevier).

Ms. Wenz has been treating obesity since starting her career as an NP, in the settings of family practice, endocrinology, comprehensive obesity treatment center and private practice. She is currently a senior cardiometabolic educator with Novo Nordisk. Her mission is to dismantle weight bias and stigma by increasing obesity competency among those working within the health care community. Ms. Wenz has dedicated her career to partnering with patients with the goals of managing weight, improving health and transforming lives.

Lori is married to Adam, and they have two daughters, Aidan and Brynna. In her free time Lori enjoys long walks on the beach, reading, travel, stand up paddle boarding and spending time on remote trails in Colorado hiking and off-roading in her Bronco.