The University of Arizona Treatment, Research and Education of Adipose Tissue (TREAT) Program, led by UA endocrinologist 
Karen Herbst, MD, PhD, has taken a free educational seminar hosted for health care providers last fall and converted it to an online course worth the same 3.5 CME value.
Like the seminar, the course is supported by the Lipedema Foundation.
The course, “Lipedema | An Educational Program to Recognize, Diagnose and Treat Patients,” helps clinicians learn more about this most common form of fatty or adipose tissue disorders (ATDs)—including how to recognize lipedema and diagnosis it and the latest research and treatment options.
To access the online version, visit: https://treat.medicine.arizona.edu/cme
Pictured above right are women with various degrees of lipedema, a fatty tissue disorder that’s resistant to reduction by lifestyle changes alone. The image is from a YouTube video posted by the Fat Disorders Society, which hosted Dr. Karen Herbst, director of the UA’s TREAT Program, as keynote speaker at a conference it sponsored, “Next Steps in the Treatment of Lipedema & Dercum's Disease,” in Dallas in April 2018. In the video, Dr. Herbst diagnoses a patient with lipedema and shows results after liposuction. View it at the bottom of this article.
The course was first hosted as a half-day seminar Sept. 30, 2017, at the Abrams Public Health Center in Tucson adjacent to Banner – University Medical Center South. The center is home to the Banner – University Medicine Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic and Banner – University Medicine Diabetes Prevention and Education Center.
“The impetus behind the course is to increase awareness and education about fat disorders,” said Dr. Herbst, who is an associate professor of medicine, medical imaging and pharmacy practice science. She is based in the UA Division of Endocrinology and is a member of the UA Health Sciences Center for Disparities on Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
“Through the course, we hope that more practitioners will become aware and interested in fat disorders and take better care of their patients.
The course was developed by Dr. Herbst and Elle Ross, DO, PhD, an assistant professor in the UA Division of Geriatrics, General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine.
Current research in the TREAT Program is focused on imaging and assessing the fat in women with lipedema compared to controls and evaluating a new drug that changes white fat into energy-burning fat, Dr. Herbst said. Her two most recent papers include:
"Low-Dose d-Amphetamine Induced Regression of Liver Fat Deposits in Dercum Disease" (co-written with Dr. Ross, et al.) – American Journal of Medicine, Vol. 131, Issue 6, pp. 705-708, June 2018. PMID: 29355511- "Lipedema: Friend and Foe" – Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation, Vol. 33, Issue 1, March 2018. PMID: 29522416
The TREAT Program was created in 2015 with a generous gift of $1.5 million from Felicitie Daftuar, a UA alum whose donation was made through her role as founder and executive director of the Lipedema Foundation—which cosponsored the seminar and is co-sponsoring the course, too.
ATDs most often affect women and involve growth and retention of fatty tissue, which often starts at key life shifts in the body’s metabolism, such as puberty, pregnancy or menopause. Lipedema is characterized by subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) that collects on the lower body. These sometimes painful fatty tissues cannot be lost by lifestyle changes such as diet or exercise.
If you have ever wondered, “What is lipedema?”… “Why your female patients have a hard time losing weight” …or “How is lipedema different from lymphedema or obesity?”— please, join your clinical colleagues for an interactive and dynamic CME course to continue to expand your knowledge of this disorder which affects an estimated 17 million U.S. women and 370 million women globally.
ALSO SEE:
“Dr. Karen Herbst Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at 4th Annual Influential Health and Medical Leaders Event” | Posted June 15, 2018
“UA TREAT Program Offers 3.5 CME Educational Course on Lipedema for Providers, Sept. 30” | Posted Sept. 11, 2017
“Cure for Fat Tissue Disorders Sought in UA Alumna’s $1.5 Million Gift” | Posted Dec. 15, 2015