Professor Ken Ong

Professor Ken Ong co-leads the MRC Epidemiology Unit’s Early Life Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders programme with Dr John Perry. His research in the Unit and at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge identified rapid postnatal growth, weight gain and early reproductive timing as determinants of, and also potential targets for the prevention of, childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes and related disorders. His programme studies the mechanisms that underlie these developmental trajectories to disease risk. The programme considers that the avoidance of early puberty timing is a potential target for future lifestyle behavioural interventions, with potential benefits not only on long-term health outcomes but also on short/medium-term outcomes relating to educational attainment, risk-taking behaviours and mental health.