Robert Eckel is a distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; Professor of Medicine Emeritus with appointments in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and Division of Cardiology, and former Charles A. Boettcher II Endowed Chair in Atherosclerosis at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus. He also was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. In addition, he served as President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity and President of the American Heart Association.