Sylvia Santosa

Sylvia Santosa, PhD, RD (CDO) is an Associate Professor in the department of Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology at Concordia University, and a Canada Research Chair, Tier 2 in Clinical Nutrition. Prior to joining Concordia, she completed a research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She earned her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from McGill University and is a registered dietitian through her membership in the College of Dietitians of Ontario. She has published over 40 research articles in the area of nutrition and metabolism, and has given over 30 research and community talks. Her lab, the Metabolism, Obesity, and Nutrition (MON) Lab at the PERFORM Centre, combines unique biological, physiological and nutritional techniques to investigate and understand the underlying effects of obesity that contribute to weight gain and disease. Dr. Santosa’s research has two main streams: the clinical stream investigates the nutritional needs of bariatric surgery patients, and the metabolic stream examines factors affecting regional fat tissue characteristics and how these characteristics, in turn, contributes to disease risk. The main goals of her research are to determine what makes obesity pathology different between individuals and how these differences can be accounted for in designing the better treatments for obesity. The results from her studies will promote the development of better public health interventions, from disease prevention to management.