GLP-1s: Good for Waistlines, Bad for Weight Watchers

Serena Williams recently made headlines for her promotion of GLP-1 medications. The tennis super star is one of a growing list of celebrities turning to GLP-1s, drugs originally developed to treat patients with Type II diabetes and obesity, to help with weight loss.

Off-label use of these medications is rapidly expanding, disrupting a fitness industry built on helping people lose weight. In May, Weight Watchers filed for bankruptcy. Questions also loom over any long-term disruptions to the human body.

Mike and Yael talk with Dr. Sandhya Chhabra (MBA’17) about the benefits, cautions and unknowns surrounding the drug that is making headlines and changing lives. Dr. Chhabra led an endocrinology practice for 20 years and is currently a Senior Medical Advisor for Springbok Analytics.

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About the Expert

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Vice Dean; Senior Associate Dean for Professional Degree Programs; Altec Styslinger Foundation Bicentennial Professor of Business Administration

Grushka-Cockayne’s research and teaching activities focus on decision analysis, forecasting, project management and behavioral decision-making.

As an expert in the area of project management, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. She is the secretary/treasurer of INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, a U.Va. Excellence in Diversity fellow and member the Project Management Institute.

B.Sc., Ben-Gurion University; M.Sc., London School of Economics; M.Res., Ph.D., London Business School

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About the Expert

Michael Lenox

Special Adviser for the Dean; Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration

Lenox’s expertise is in the domain of technology strategy and policy. He studies the role of innovation in helping a business succeed. In particular, he explores the sourcing of external knowledge by firms and this practice’s impact on a company’s innovation strategy. Lenox has a longstanding interest in the interface between business strategy and public policy as it relates to the natural environment; his work explores firm strategies and nontraditional public policies that have the potential to drive green innovation and entrepreneurship.

In 2013, Lenox co-authored The Strategist’s Toolkit with Darden Professor Jared Harris. His latest book,

Lenox is a prolific author; his most recent book, Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation, examines how digital technologies and services enable the creation of innovative products and services, as well as identifying new competitive positions.

B.S., M.S., University of Virginia; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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