Pittsburgh Surgical Outcomes Research Center
Transforming the conduct of clinical research

Anita P. Courcoulas, MD, MPH

  • Co-Director

As Professor of Surgery with Tenure and Section Head of the Minimally Invasive Bariatric and General Surgery Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, I have a strong record of excellence in clinical research and clinical care at one of the oldest and largest academic bariatric surgery programs in the country. I co-direct the SAGES Fellowship Training Program in bariatric surgery and co-direct the University of Pittsburgh Surgical Outcomes Research Center that supports the conduct of health services research across the system. My early research interests in the field of bariatric surgery were the study of risk stratification, volume-outcome relationships, and predictors of weight and health outcomes. In 2004, I was awarded NIH-funding for the first systematic, longitudinal, multi-site study of bariatric surgery; The Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS) Study that continued through 2017. I directed the largest clinical site in that consortium and made important contributions to the literature from this data about longer-term weight, health, and other (adverse) outcomes, with publications in JAMA and NEJM. I also helped to establish a related NIH-funded study for teenagers called; Adolescent Bariatrics: Assessing Health Benefits and Risks (Teen-LABS) and currently lead the only adult-based center in that consortium. This study is still on going and has published results in the NEJM. I have also been continually funded by NIH-NIDDK since 2009 for A Randomized Trial to Compare Surgical and Medical Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes; first as a single site trial and now as a pooled consortium of 4 such trials from across the country which constitute the largest group of individuals randomized to surgical versus non-surgical treatments for type 2 diabetes. My work in this area has contributed knowledge/publications that have changed the treatment algorithm for people with class 1 obesity and diabetes to include bariatric/metabolic surgery. I am also involved in the evaluation of new surgical treatments and devices, publishing the pivotal trial for an intra-gastric balloon device, as one example. Finally, my clinical research program has now extended to include NIH-funded, mechanistic, first-in-human, longitudinal and translational studies to test the hypotheses of intestinal metabolic reprogramming as an underlying mechanism for the diabetes improvement following gastric bypass and to characterize the metabolomic changes in obesity. In my laboratory, we continue to contribute to the leading edge of clinical and translational research in the field of bariatric and metabolic (diabetes) surgery.

Review Full Biosketch

Education & Training

  • Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA MD 1988 Medicine
  • University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA MPH 1993 Epidemiology

Representative Publications

  1. Inge TH, Courcoulas AP, Jenkins TM, Michalsky MP, Brandt ML, Xanthakos SA, Dixon JB, Harmon CM, Chen MK, Xie C, Evans ME, Helmrath MA. Five-Year Outcomes of Gastric Bypass in Adolescents Compared to Adults. N Engl J Med., 2019 May 16. PMID: 31116917
  2. Courcoulas AP, Gallagher JW, Neiberg RH, Eagleton EB, DeLany JP, Lang W, Punchai S, Gourash W, Jakicic JM. Bariatric Surgery vs. Lifestyle Intervention for Diabetes Treatment: Five Year

Research Grants

U01DK114156, NIDDK (Courcoulas Site PI) 07/04/17-06/30/22
Alliance of Randomized trials of Medicine vs. Metabolic Surgery in Type 2 Diabetes (ARMMS-T2D) Consortium
This project provides long-term multi-center extension to four randomized trials comparing surgical and medical treatments in Type 2 Diabetes. It includes the Triabetes Study (A Randomized Trial to Compare Surgical and Medical Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes), which compares outcomes of 3 of the most common bariatric surgical procedures with a comprehensive medical treatment for Type 2 Diabetes in a large cohort of randomized patients (>300) with body mass index between 30 and 40.
Role: Site PI

5RS2DK116691, NIDDK (Rosen) 04/01/19-03/31/23
Generation of a Cellular Atlas of Adipose Tissue in Mouse and Man
The proposed research proposes the do single cell RNA sequencing to create an atlas of cell types in human and murine adipose tissue. This unique resource is designed to accelerate scientific progress in the future. One of the sub-aims will be to look at how cellular composition changes in respond to various perturbations, one or which would be gastric bypass which will require serial subcutaneous and intra-abdominal adipose tissue samples which will be provided by Dr. Courcoulas.
Role: Co-Investigator

5UM1DK072493, NIDDK (Courcoulas Site PI) 09/23/11-08/31/21
Adolescent Bariatrics: Assessing Health Benefits and Risks (Teen LABS)
This is a prospective, longitudinal study that examines the impact of gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgery as treatment for severe obesity by measuring comorbidities, health outcomes, complications, and quality of life in adolescents.
Role: Site PI

R01DK108642, NIDDK (Stylopoulos) 09/24/15-08/31/21
Intestinal Metabolic Reprogramming as a Key Mechanism of Gastric Bypass in Humans
This is a descriptive, observational, longitudinal trial in which changes in the metabolism of the Roux limb of the small intestine will be analyzed in patients (with and without Type 2 diabetes) who have had Roux-in-Y Gastric Bypass. Intestinal adaptation and changes in metabolism of the Roux limb will be studied.
Role: Co-Investigator

PCORI, (Arterburn) 04/1/2019 – 03/31/2022
Shared Decision Making for Bariatric Surgery in Patients with Severe Obesity
This project team proposes to incorporate the new PCORI comparative effectiveness research evidence on bariatric surgery from the PCORnet Bariatric Study (PBS) into its decision aid and the Shared Decision Making approach, which has a demonstrated impact on patient knowledge, decisional conflict, satisfaction, and care decisions, and then implement and rigorously evaluate the updated strategy at two large healthcare systems:
Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) and UPMC in Pennsylvania.
Role: Co-Investigator