Thomas Wadden

Wadden is a fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Obesity Society, and Society of Behavioral Medicine. In 2015, the Obesity Society created the Thomas A. Wadden Award for Distinguished Mentorship, recognizing his education of scientists and practitioners in the field of obesity.

In 2011 Wadden was named the inaugural recipient of the Albert J. Stunkard Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. In this position, he currently is continuing his program of research on obesity which has been supported by the NIH for more than 30 years. Wadden joined the faculty of Haverford College as visiting professor in 2013 and has also taught at Bryn Mawr College.

Wadden is a fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Obesity Society, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine. He has served on the editorial boards of Behavior Therapy, Health Psychology, International Journal of Eating Disorders, International Journal of Obesity, and Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He was an associate editor of Annals of Behavioral Medicine from 1990 to 1993 and of the journal Obesity from 2007 to 2012.

In 1982, Wadden was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, where he began his clinical and research career on the treatment of obesity and its associated eating disorders. After a decade at Penn, he joined Syracuse University as Professor of Psychology, Director of Clinical Training, and Director of the Center for Health and Behavior. He returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 as Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. He also was appointed at this time as Director of Penn's Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, which he led for more than two decades (1994-2017). During this time he also held numerous positions in the Obesity Society, serving as President in 2005–2006.

Wadden is a native of Washington, D.C. and a graduate of the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. He received his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1975 from Brown University and his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1981 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Thomas A. Wadden (born September 3, 1952) is a clinical psychologist and educator who is known for his research on the treatment of obesity by methods that include lifestyle modification, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. He is the Albert J. Stunkard Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and former director of the University's Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. He also is Visiting Professor of Psychology at Haverford College.

Wadden has published more than 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts, as well as 7 edited books, the most recent of which is Handbook of Obesity Treatment, 2nd edition (with George A. Bray). Wadden's early contributions to the management of obesity included the first controlled, long-term trial of high protein, very low calorie diets (<800 kcal/d) and the documentation of the marked weight regain with this approach. With colleagues, he provided a model for commercial weight loss programs to evaluate and publish their short- and long-term weight losses, thus, allowing physicians and their patients to make informed choices among programs. This work resulted in Congressional testimony and in a collaboration with the Federal Trade Commission, other researchers, and members of the weight loss industry to improve information provided to prospective dieters.