2021 in review: SCOPE

2021 has been another landmark year for SCOPE. The year began with the integration of the Obesity Medicine Education Collaborative (OMEC) into the SCOPE E-Learning platform, allowing health professionals to track which skills and competencies they are developing as they take our online courses.

Later in the year, we released "Obesity and CVD: A Complex Relationship", a six-module learning path developed in collaboration with the World Heart Federation which explores the interrelationship between obesity and CVD. This was followed by two new supplementary modules, ‘An Overview of Bariatric Surgery’ and ‘Medical Nutrition Therapy for Obesity’, with a third – ‘Emerging Therapies in Obesity Medicine’ due for release imminently. This means more than 50 modules are now available to access via SCOPE E-Learning – all of which have also been professionally translated into Spanish, French and Portuguese!

Six healthcare professionals received the prestigious honour of a SCOPE National Fellowship this year. We extend our congratulations once again to Dr Maya Barake (Lebanon), Dr Michael Crotty (Ireland), Dr Georgia Rigas (Australia), Dr Faisal Ali (Yemen), Dr Hassan Kahal (UK), and Dr Polyanna Patriota (Brazil).

Next year will see the long-awaited release of the SCOPE Examination, a rigorous, multiple-choice examination based on the content of the online course. Several new modules are also under development and due for release throughout the year. We are also excited to announce the launch of the Every Body Podcast, a new podcast series featuring interviews with some of the most renowned obesity experts from around the world, with the first episode due in January.

Finally, we look forward to recommencing our SCOPE Leadership Programme, an exciting initiative to foster obesity expertise by organising preceptorships SCOPE Certified professionals at a prestigious obesity clinic. Stay tuned for more SCOPE news in 2022!