Ellen Schur, MD, MS

Email: ellschur@uw.edu

  • Director, Clinical Research Unit, UW Medicine Diabetes Institute
  • Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine

Ellen A. Schur, M.D., M.S. is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Harborview Medical Center. She currently sees patients at the the UW Medicine Weight Loss Management Center. Dr. Schur also teaches and mentors medical students, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who are interested in clinical and translational research on obesity and diabetes.

Dr. Schur completed her medical degree at Stanford University in 1999. She received an M.S. in epidemiology in 2008 from the UW.

Dr. Schur’s clinical interests include weight management and primary care. She founded the UW Medicine Weight Loss Management Nonsurgical Weight Loss Program.


Research Interests

The focus of my research is on understanding brain regulation of appetite and obesity pathogenesis. My training includes an undergraduate degree in human biology, medical training in internal medicine, a master’s degree in epidemiology, and a career development (K23) award from the NIDDK to study eating behavior and appetite regulation. Through this award, I received first-rate mentorship and training in body weight regulation and metabolism while studying Epidemiology and the conduct of clinical and translational research as a Fellow, funded through the University of Washington (UW) Institute of Translational Health Sciences. Thus, I am well versed in study design and execution, epidemiology, biostatistics, and data analysis. In addition to studies of behavioral, hormonal, and genetic aspects of body weight regulation, I have published findings showing brain regions that are directly related to altered perception of high-calorie food cues during satiety. I was responsible for the first translational studies showing radiologic evidence for hypothalamic gliosis among people with obesity. I subsequently established the first links between hypothalamic gliosis and obesity-associated endocrine disruption including insulin resistance and lower circulating testosterone concentrations in men. I provide clinical care to patients with obesity at the UW Medicine Weight Loss Management Center. I am Clinical Research Director for the UW Diabetes Institute. My research has been funded by the American Diabetes Association, the UW Royalty Research Fund, and the National Institutes of Health, among others. Current studies investigate appetite regulation and the presence of structural changes in body-weight regulating areas of the hypothalamus of adults and children with obesity and/or diabetes.