Ken Ong is Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology and co-leads the Early Aetiology & Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders programme at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, UK. His research has identified trajectories of rapid infant weight gain, growth and early pubertal timing as determinants of obesity and related disease, and examines the genetic, endocrine and behavioural mechanisms that link reproductive milestones to obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
He works closely with other research teams in Cambridge and beyond in the development and testing of early life interventions to prevent obesity. He is also a consultant paediatric endocrinologist, leads a regional service for childhood obesity at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and chairs the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition.