Hansa Bhargava, MD, FAAP

Hansa Bhargava, MD, FAAP, oversees the team of medical experts responsible for assuring the accuracy, credibility, and timeliness of all content on WebMD FIT and Raising FIT Kids. With extensive experience in the fields of nutrition and pediatric obesity, Bhargava came to WebMD from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, affiliated with Emory University, where she practiced for 7 years. She has been a practicing clinician as well as lead physician in immediate care.

Bhargava has a deep-rooted interest in pediatric nutrition and obesity and has been involved in setting up programs to address this in two different hospital systems. In 2001, she co-founded an educational program called FitKids to reach out to overweight children and their parents by partnering Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., with a local school. Recently she has been involved with Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's new initiative for preventing and intervening in pediatric obesity.

Bhargava has presented lectures on "Obesity in Children: The Emergence of a New Chronic Disease" and "Obesity & Nutrition: Addressing Cultural Differences; Healthy Habits for Healthy Kids" to physicians and other healthcare providers nationally. She has also led various workshops about child nutrition and childhood obesity directed to both pediatricians and families. Along with Miriam Vos, MD, MSPH, Bhargava designed a study to look at motivational interviewing for parents of overweight children.

Bhargava was a member of the Georgia Collaborative Taskforce for the Prevention of Obesity as well as the Georgia chapter of the Pediatric Obesity Taskforce for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She worked closely with Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta to help organize an exhibit on nutrition for kids.

Bhargava is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. She did her residency at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and her fellowship in gastroenterology and nutrition at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is board certified in pediatrics.