On February 5, 1998, AOA began implementing one of its core missions — to expand research on the disease of obesity. Testifying before the House of Representatives Subcommittee that sets the annual spending level for the National Institutes of Health, Judith S. Stern, Sc.D., the association's vice president, called on Congress to increase obesity funding five-fold, from $92 million to $460 million.

Stern described the growing world-wide epidemic of obesity, calling specific attention to the increasing prevalence of obesity among adults and children in the United States, its cost and profound health consequences. The testimony described how other, less prevalent diseases receive significantly more funding.

Vice President Stern testified: "Obesity is a long term chronic disease. There are at least eight other diseases that worsen as obesity increases or decrease as weight is reduced. They include heart disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia, adult-onset diabetes, stroke, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and deep vein thrombosis. In fact, obesity research at NIH is an orphan. Its funding levels are far below diseases that affect fewer persons, have less adverse health effects, and lower economic costs. Yet the scientific opportunities are at least as great as in any other area of medicine."

Many examples of the disparity in obesity funding were provided. While smoking and obesity are the two leading causes of preventable death, smoking research receives eight times the funding of obesity, even though the mortality difference is slight. HIV/AIDS involves 600,000 to 700,000 victims yet receives $1.5 billion in research. In contrast, 58 million Americans with obesity are allocated a research budget of only $92 million. On a per patient basis, heart disease research funding is $40, cancer $338, diabetes $20 and obesity $1.09. Even though NIH is committed to basic research, three of the eight conditions caused by obesity receive six times the amount of funding.

The AOA maintained the pressure a few weeks later when Executive Director Morgan Downey testified before a committee of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine examining the priority-setting process at NIH. Mr. Downey pointed out that the health care cost of obesity is virtually the same as all disorders of the brain, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson, stroke, and spinal cord injury (about 7 percent). Yet brain disorder research funding is 3,643 percent greater than obesity funding. The AOA testimony took NlH to task for not having a credible research priority setting process.