In 1992 I founded the Ottawa Hospital Weight Management clinic.  My primary interest is in the Genetics of Obesity. Selected peer-reviewed publications (in chronological order). (Publications selected from 27 peer-reviewed publications)

Ghosh S,  Dent R,  Harper ME, Gorman S, Stuart J, McPherson R. Whole-blood transcriptomics identifies distinct biological pathways associated with weight-loss success. Obesity 2011;19:457-63

Ghosh S, Dent R, Harper ME, Gorman S, Stuart J, McPherson R.  Gene expression profiling in whole blood identifies distinct biological pathways associated with obesity.  BMC Medical Genomics 2010;3:56-66

Ghosh S,  Dent R,  Harper ME, Gorman S, Stuart J, McPherson R. Whole-blood transcriptomics identifies distinct biological pathways associated with weight-loss success. Obesity 2011;19:457-63  

Gerrits MF, Ghosh S, Kavaslar N, Hill B, Tour A, Seifert EL, Beauchamp B, Gorman S, Stuart J, Dent R, McPherson R, Harper ME.  Distinct skeletal muscle fiber characteristics and gene expression in diet sensitive versus diet resistant obesity.  J Lipid Res. 2010;51:2394-2404.

Crawford SA, Costford SR, Aguer C, Thomas SC, deKemp RA, DaSilva JN, Lafontaine D, Kendall, M, Dent R, Beanlands RS, McPherson R, Harper ME. Naturally occurring AMPK?3 R225W mutation results in increased oxidative capacity and glucose uptake in primary human myotubes. Diabetolgia 2010;53:1986-97

Bressler J, Fornage M, Hanis C, Wen Hong L, Lewis C, McPherson R, Dent R, Mosley T, Pennacchio L, Boerwinkle E.  The INSIG rs 7566605 genetic variand does not play a major role in obesity .  BMC Medical Genetics 2009;10:56

Calton M, Ersoy B, Zhang S, Kane J, Malloy M, Pullinger C, Browberg Y, Pennacchio L, Dent R, McPherson R, Ahituv N, Vaisse, C.  Association of functionally significant Melanocortin-4 but not Melanocortin-3 receptor mutations with severe adult obesity in a large North-American case control study.  Human Molecular Genetics 2009;18:1140-7

Costford S, Kavaslar N, Ahituv N, Chaudhry S, Schackwitz W, Dent R, Pennacchio L, McPherson R, Harper M.  Gain-of-Function R225W Mutation in Human AMPK?3 Causing Increased glycogen and Decreased triglyceride in Skeletal Muscle.  PLoS ONE 3(9): e903. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000903

Adamo KB, Dent R, Langefeld CD, Cox M, Williams K, Carrick KM, Stuart JS, Sundseth SS, Harper ME, McPherson R, Tesson F.  Diet Response in Obese Women is Influenced by Variations in Genes from PPAR? and Acyl-CoA Synthetase 5.  Obesity 2007;15:1068-1074

Dent R, Vallis M, Hramiak I, Francis J. The Health Care Team’s Role in Obesity Evaluation and Management.  Canadian Medical Association Journal 2007; 176(8):Online 50-53.

Dent R, Habib R, Soucy L.  Psychiatric Issues in the Management of Obesity. (Chapter 7 of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management and Prevention of Obesity) Canadian Medical Association Journal 2007;176(8):Online 40-44.

Ahituv N, Kavaslar N, Schackwitz W, Ustaszewska A, Martin J, Collier JM, Hebert S, Doelle H, Vaisse C, Sunyaev S, Dent R, Cohen J, McPherson R. Pennacchio L. Medical Sequencing at the Extremes of Human Body Mass. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 2007;80:779-791.

Ahituv N, Kavaslar N, Schackwitz W, Ustaszewska A, Collier JM, Hebert S, Doelle H, Dent R, Pennacchio L, McPherson R.  A PYY Q62P variant linked to human obesity. Hum Mol Genet 2006;15(3):387-391.

Swarbrick MM, Waldenmaier B, Pennacchio LA, Cavazos MM, Geller F, Lind   DL, Merriman R, Ustazewska A, Malloy M, Rief W, Mauvais-Jarvis W, Pullinger CR, Kane JP, Dent R, Kwok P-Y, McPherson R, Hinney A, Hebebrand J, Vaisse C.  Lack of support for the association between GAD2 polymorphisms and severe human obesity. plosbiology.org September 2005;3:1662-1671

Aubin D, Gagnon A, Grunder L, Dent R, Allen M, Sorisky A.  Adipopenic and antiapoptotic protein levels in human adipose stromal cells after weight loss.  Obesity Research 2004;12:1231-1234.

Harper ME, Dent R, Monemdijou S, Bezaire V, VanWyck L, Wells G, Kavaslar GN, Gauthier A, Tesson F, McPherson R.  Decreased mitochondrial proton leak and reduced expression of UCP3 in skeletal muscle of obese diet-resistant women.  Diabetes. 2002;51:2459-2466.

Dent R, Penwarden R, Harris N, Hotz S.  Development and Evaluation of patient-centered software for weight management clinics.  Obesity Research.  2002;10:651-656