Dr. Megan Ferber is a research development scientist and behavioral health scholar at OCHIN. Megan’s research focuses on psychosocial processes surrounding weight loss interventions, ranging from lifestyle modification to bariatric and metabolic surgery. Specifically, she is interested in 1) how mental health and social relationships help and hinder patients’ weight loss outcomes, 2) how social support for patients’ health behavior change varies across relationships (i.e. romantic, parental, and friendships), and 3) developing interventions to help support both patients’ physical health outcomes and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, locus of control, relationship quality etc.). Additionally, she has partnered on projects that sought to improve the well-being and work life integration of practitioners. Megan, who joined OCHIN in 2024, has experience with a variety of methodologies including surveys and survey development, interviews, focus groups, randomized control trials, and secondary data. In her role at OCHIN, Megan works with investigators in developing projects that seek to leverage the various research resources available in the research program and cores to strengthen the health outcomes of the nation.
Megan was the project coordinator for a needs assessment of bariatric surgery patients’ social and psychological needs during the pre-and post-surgery periods. Data from the needs assessment led to a multi-university project that aimed to examine how different social relationships and psychological functioning of weight loss seeking patients change after weight loss initiation. Both studies informed a pilot longitudinal randomized control study that examined the impact of support person attendance during bariatric surgery appointments on both the relationship and patients’ health outcomes post-bariatric surgery.
Megan led investigations into group differences in weight loss strategies and outcomes amongst the metabolic and bariatric surgery patients and those without surgical intervention utilizing secondary datasets including the National Inpatient Sample and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. These investigations sought to provide a larger picture of the trends across populations in terms of weight loss behaviors, nutrition, and weight loss outcomes.
Megan collaborated on several projects that examined the impact of workplace stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and practitioner wellness. One study examined these variables at a national level amongst academic and non-academic practitioners and the other targeted one institution’s workplace support efforts. Taken together, the projects provided a socioecological examination of the effect of pandemic-related shifts in the wellbeing of practitioners.
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