Tune into Scale Up Your Practice, Obesity Canada’s podcast for healthcare professionals.
Hosted by Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan, each episode dives into practical, evidence-informed conversations about obesity care—covering topics like weight stigma, patient-centered approaches, and the connection between obesity and other health conditions.
You’ll hear expert perspectives, real-world experiences, and insights to help you provide better, more compassionate care.
Listen now and scale up your practice.
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
The State of Obesity Care in Canada Report with Ian Patton & Jennifer Brown
What happens when healthcare professionals know what evidence-informed obesity care should look like, but the system makes that care difficult to deliver?
Ian Patton and Jennifer Brown join us on the podcast to unpack findings from The State of Obesity Care in Canada report and connect them to what clinicians and patients experience every day: limited referral pathways, uneven treatment coverage, gaps in psychological support, inconsistent access to metabolic bariatric surgery and the effects of weight bias at the system level.
In this episode
Why access to primary care does not necessarily mean access to evidence-informed obesity care
How gaps in medication coverage and psychological support affect both patients and clinical teams
Why access to metabolic bariatric surgery can look very different across Canada
How weight bias can shape the way obesity care is organized, funded and prioritized
What system barriers can look like in everyday primary care practice Pasted markdown
Practical ways healthcare professionals can use the report to support change within their own teams, organizations and communities
How clinicians can add their real-world experience to broader advocacy for better obesity care
Additional resources
Read The State of Obesity Care in Canada report: https://utm.guru/utelC (https://utm.guru/utelC)
Send a letter to your elected officials asking them to support policies that help close the gaps in evidence-informed obesity care across Canada: https://utm.guru/utelC (https://utm.guru/utelC)
Learning objectives
Analyze the core system gaps identified in the State of Obesity Care in Canada report and how structural barriers—such as uneven coverage, long wait times, and fragmented referral pathways—directly impact daily clinical practice.
Evaluate how systemic weight bias and the lack of public funding for two of the three core pillars of treatment (pharmacotherapy and psychological interventions) undermine chronic disease management and burden both patients and healthcare teams.
Apply clinician advocacy tools and evidence-based frameworks to partner with patients, challenge administrative hurdles, and drive provincial and federal systems-level change.
Enjoying the podcast?
Support Scale Up Your Practice by:
Sharing this episode with a colleague or team member
Subscribing on your favourite podcast platform
Leaving a review to help more listeners find the show
Have a question or a topic you’d like us to cover?
Email us at scaleuppod@obesitycanada.ca
Disclosures
This episode script was developed using NotebookLM to synthesize complex source materials into a structured educational format. The tool was used to analyze the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies (COECs), the Obesity Canada Strategic Plan, and guest-specific research. Specific prompts were utilized to extract relevant learning objectives, map them to CanMEDS roles, and generate competency-based interview questions.
While NotebookLM assisted in drafting the narrative arc and educational framework, all content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and refined by the podcast hosts and Obesity Canada's clinical experts. This ensures the script aligns with current Clinical Practice Guidelines and authentically represents the lived experience perspective.
24 Sept 2026
What patients may be thinking but not saying
🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada
What a patient says in an obesity care conversation may not tell the whole story.
In this episode, Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan explore what can sit beneath silence, hesitation or agreement, especially after past experiences with weight bias or stigma. They share practical ways clinicians can build trust, ask better questions and make follow-up feel safer.
In this episode
Why silence or hesitation may reflect mistrust, not disinterest
How past weight bias can shape the next clinical conversation
Why asking permission can help build trust
How curiosity can uncover barriers a patient is experiencing
Why agreement does not always mean a plan feels realistic
How to make follow-up feel safer when treatment does not go as expected
Why health, function and patient goals matter beyond the number on the scale
Additional resources
Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines https://utm.guru/us5rk (https://utm.guru/us5rk)
Free course: Words Matter: The Consequences of Weight Bias and Stigmatizing Language https://utm.guru/us5rm (https://utm.guru/us5rm)
Free course: Obesity Assessment Essentials https://utm.guru/us5rp (https://utm.guru/us5rp)
Become a Certified Bariatric Educator
Today’s conversation is a good reminder that obesity care takes knowledge, compassion and a commitment to reducing stigma. For healthcare professionals with experience in obesity care, Obesity Canada’s Certified Bariatric Educator exam is one way to have that knowledge recognized and stand out in the field.
The next CBE exam takes place on November 28, 2026 and applications must be submitted by November 2 to be eligible to write.
Learn more and apply: https://utm.guru/us5rG (https://utm.guru/us5rG)
Enjoying the podcast?
Support Scale Up Your Practice by:
Sharing this episode with a colleague or team member
Subscribing on your favourite podcast platform
Leaving a review to help more listeners find the show
Have a question or a topic you’d like us to cover?
Email us at scaleuppod@obesitycanada.ca
Disclosures
This episode script was developed using NotebookLM to synthesize complex source materials into a structured educational format. The tool was used to analyze the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies (COECs), the Obesity Canada Strategic Plan, and guest-specific research. Specific prompts were utilized to extract relevant learning objectives, map them to CanMEDS roles, and generate competency-based interview questions.
While NotebookLM assisted in drafting the narrative arc and educational framework, all content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and refined by the podcast hosts and Obesity Canada's clinical experts. This ensures the script aligns with current Clinical Practice Guidelines and authentically represents the lived experience perspective.
10 Sept 2026
How patient voices can shape better obesity care with Marc Bains, Lisa Schaffer, and Ian Patton
🎙️This episode was made possible through the partnership between Obesity Canada and Boehringer Ingelheim in support of the Global Patient Charter Framework initiative.
Lived experience belongs at the table where care is designed.
Marc Bains, Lisa Schaffer and Ian Patton join Roshan and Michelle to talk about how the patient voice and lived experience can shape better care, stronger advocacy and more person-centred health systems. The conversation explores what obesity care can learn from HeartLife’s Patient and Caregiver Charter, and how Obesity Canada is beginning work toward a Canadian Patient Charter for Obesity.
In this episode
How lived experience can improve patient-centred obesity care
What obesity care can learn from HeartLife’s Patient and Caregiver Charter
How patient voice can shape healthcare policy, research and clinical practice
Why person-centred care starts by asking “what matters to you?”
How healthcare professionals can partner with people living with chronic disease
Why lived experience is essential to shared decision-making and better care
What Obesity Canada is building through the Canadian Patient Charter for obesity care
Additional resources
Heartlife Patient and Caregiver Charter: https://utm.guru/usIJa (https://utm.guru/usIJa)
Global Foundational Patient Charter for Obesity: https://utm.guru/urFpe (https://utm.guru/urFpe)
Learning objectives
Apply principles of meaningful patient partnership and co-design to foster collaborative, patient-centred care and a culture of safety and quality in clinical practice.
Analyze the role of patient partnership and multidisciplinary collaboration in improving access to evidence-based obesity care and reducing health inequities.
Evaluate opportunities to integrate lived experience into clinical practice, quality improvement initiatives, and healthcare system design to improve patient outcomes.
Enjoying the podcast?
Support Scale Up Your Practice by:
Sharing this episode with a colleague or team member
Subscribing on your favourite podcast platform
Leaving a review to help more listeners find the show
Have a question or a topic you’d like us to cover?
Email us at scaleuppod@obesitycanada.ca
Disclosures
This episode script was developed using NotebookLM to synthesize complex source materials into a structured educational format. The tool was used to analyze the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies (COECs), the Obesity Canada Strategic Plan, and guest-specific research. Specific prompts were utilized to extract relevant learning objectives, map them to CanMEDS roles, and generate competency-based interview questions.
While NotebookLM assisted in drafting the narrative arc and educational framework, all content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and refined by the podcast hosts and Obesity Canada's clinical experts. This ensures the script aligns with current Clinical Practice Guidelines and authentically represents the lived experience perspective.
Who has been a guest on Scale Up Your Practice by Obesity Canada
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Dr Sanjeev Sockalingam
Dr Giada Sebastiani
Dr Emilia Huvinen
Dr Rishi Handa
Khalid Bhatti
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
253,739
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 64 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
81
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
32
Contact Scale Up Your Practice by Obesity Canada
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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