Dr. Erik Ingelsson, MD, PhD — Chief Scientific Officer of Wave Life Sciences.

For decades we’ve measured obesity using one simple number on a scale — but what if that’s the wrong metric? Today, one of the world’s leading experts in genetics explains why the future of obesity medicine may not be about losing more weight, but about losing the right kind of fat while preserving the muscle that keeps us healthy.

Dr. Erik Ingelsson, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist and internationally recognized leader in human genetics, genomics, and metabolic disease research. He currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Wave Life Sciences (https://wavelifesciences.com/), where he leads the development of next-generation RNA medicines designed to address major unmet medical needs.

Before joining Wave, Dr. Ingelsson served as Senior Vice President and Head of Target Discovery at GSK, where he led large-scale efforts integrating human genetics, functional genomics, computational biology, and molecular science to discover and validate new drug targets across therapeutic areas.

Prior to his transition into industry, Dr. Ingelsson was Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, where his laboratory used human genetics and functional genomics to uncover new biological mechanisms underlying insulin resistance, obesity, metabolic disease, and cardiovascular risk.

Over his career, Dr. Ingelsson has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has become one of the leading voices in translating insights from human genetic variation into new medicines.

At Wave, Dr. Ingelsson is helping pioneer a new approach to obesity treatment: targeting the biology of harmful fat accumulation rather than simply focusing on the number on the scale.

Today we’ll discuss the genetics behind obesity, the promise of RNA medicines, why visceral fat may be the true therapeutic target, and whether the next generation of obesity treatments will move beyond weight loss toward healthier body composition.