Ken Ong is Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology and co-leads the Early Aetiology & Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders programme at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.

His PhD studies in Oxford and Cambridge investigated genetic and environmental influences on infant and childhood growth and their relevance to later obesity and cardio-metabolic disease risks in large birth cohort studies. His research has identified trajectories of rapid infant weight gain, growth and early pubertal timing as determinants of obesity and related disease, and now aims to understand the genetic, endocrine and behavioural mechanisms that underlie these links, working closely with other research teams in Cambridge and beyond in the development and testing of early life interventions to prevent childhood obesity.

He is also a consultant paediatric endocrinologist, leads a regional service for childhood obesity at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and chairs the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition.