Dr. Robert Kushner, MD
Not yet claimedWeight loss doctor, Endocrinologist, Internal medicine doctor · Physician (MD)
Chicago, IL
Professor Emeritus of Medicine (Endocrinology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, founder and first chair of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and past president of The Obesity Society; author of 15 books and 230+ articles on patient-centered weight management.
About Dr. Robert Kushner, MD
Updated Sep 20, 2026Dr. Robert F. Kushner is an internal medicine and obesity medicine physician in Chicago, Illinois. He practices at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine and is Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he directed the Center for Lifestyle Medicine for 16 years.
He went to medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine (1979), did his internal medicine residency at Northwestern, and completed a fellowship and master's degree in clinical nutrition at the University of Chicago. He is board certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine.
He is known for his work in obesity treatment. He was a founder and the first Chair of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and a past President of The Obesity Society. He was an expert panel member for the 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline on managing overweight and obesity, and was the corresponding author on the STEP 1 semaglutide weight-loss trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021. He has written books for patients and clinicians, including Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet and Six Factors to Fit.
Public posts and writing describe weight medications such as GLP-1 drugs as one part of care, alongside behavior and environment changes. CMS Open Payments records list $361,032.25 in industry payments to him from 2021 to 2025 across 273 records, with the largest amounts from Novo Nordisk. Payments from drug companies to doctors are common and legal, but patients may want to know about them.
- Board certifications
- Board certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine, with an active Illinois medical license listed by the American Board of Obesity Medicine. abom.org
- Northwestern faculty role
- Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and former Director of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Northwestern Medicine for 16 years. drrobertkushner.com
- Guideline panel member
- Served as an expert panel member for the 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. jacc.org
- Semaglutide trial author
- Was the final and corresponding author for the STEP 1 Study Group paper 'Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity' in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021. nejm.org
- Society leadership
- Past President of The Obesity Society and of the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists, and a founder and first Chair of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. events.diabetes.org
- Awards
- Received the 2016 Clinician-of-the-Year Award from The Obesity Society and the John X. Thomas Best Teachers of Feinberg Award at Northwestern in 2017. cardiometabolichealth.org
- Nutrition training
- Completed a postgraduate fellowship in clinical nutrition and earned a master's degree in clinical nutrition and nutritional biology at the University of Chicago. cardiometabolichealth.org
- Books and articles
- His website states he has authored or edited 15 books, 56 book chapters, and 230 original articles. drrobertkushner.com
- Views on weight medications
- Publicly describes GLP-1 medications as opening the door to better health, with environmental and behavioral changes needed to sustain results. drrobertkushner.com
Worth knowing
- CMS Open Payments records for 2021-2025 list $361,032.25 in industry payments across 273 records. The largest payers were Novo Nordisk Inc ($173,056.51), Novo Nordisk AS ($64,254), Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals ($43,260.76), Currax Pharmaceuticals ($21,639.23), and VIVUS ($16,400). Several of these companies make weight or diabetes medications he researches and speaks about. openpaymentsdata.cms.gov
- A Doximity listing describes him as a family physician with a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago (1982-1984), which differs from the internal medicine and clinical nutrition training described on his own website and by medical societies. No explanation for the difference was found. doximity.com
- No license discipline, lawsuits, or criminal matters were found in the sources reviewed. However, primary-source checks of the Illinois IDFPR license database and federal court records were not completed, so this reflects an absence of findings rather than a verified clean record. abom.org
Industry payments (CMS Open Payments)
Open the CMS recordFederal law requires drug and device companies to report what they pay clinicians: meals, travel, speaking, consulting, and research. Payments are common and legal; the point is that you can see them.
2021 to 2025
$361,032
273 payments
| 2021 | $35,597 |
| 2022 | $58,331 |
| 2023 | $71,172 |
| 2024 | $80,549 |
| 2025 | $115,383 |
Top payers
- Novo Nordisk Inc$173,057
- Novo Nordisk AS$64,254
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.$43,261
- Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC$21,639
- VIVUS LLC$16,400
Payment types
- Consulting Fee$271,439
- Travel and Lodging$51,077
- Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than a continuing education program$21,769
- Honoraria$9,392
- Food and Beverage$5,823
A word of caution about these numbers
A payment does not mean your doctor is compromised or acting unethically. Most of these entries are drug samples left for patients, or lunch brought in for the office staff, and the amounts are usually small. Research funding and speaking at medical meetings are also normal parts of a clinical career.
As a rough guide, a total under $15,000 a year is usually not a concern. Much larger sums, especially from one company whose product your doctor recommends to you, are worth asking about. You are allowed to ask.
Sources: medicalnewstoday.com · drrobertkushner.com · drrobertkushner.com · drrobertkushner.com · drrobertkushner.com · drrobertkushner.com · abom.org · cardiometabolichealth.org. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Summary prepared with AI assistance from the public sources linked above. It is not a review, a rating, or an endorsement.
Practice location
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine / Northwestern Medicine
680 N Lake Shore Dr, Suite 1000
Chicago, IL 60611
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