Melanie Jay, MD, MS

Melanie Jay, MD, MS is a staff physician at the New York Harbor VA in Manhattan. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine and of Population Health at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and is board certified in internal medicine. She serves as Director of the NYU Langone Comprehensive Program on Obesity and Director of Research Collaboration and Mentorship for the Division of General Internal Medicine. Her research focuses on improving the treatment and prevention of obesity, particularly in primary care settings. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and Veterans Affairs, among others and is currently PI on 4 obesity-related behavioral clinical trials. She recently was named Director of the new Michael J. Simberkoff Center for Vaccine Clinical Trials at the NY Harbor VA where they are conducting Covid-19 vaccine trials. Her studies with Veterans include:

The Peer Assisted Lifestyle Coaching Study: This is a cluster randomized trial of a technology-assisted peer coaching intervention for weight management. This is funded by a VA Merit Review Award

Patient use characteristics of VA Telehealth Services and Impact on Quality of Care during COVID-19. This is a quality improvement project funded by the Office of Connected Care.

Optimizing Telemedicine: Using Standardized Patients to Assess and Train Clinicians in Digital Communication and Use of Technology This is a quality improvement project funded by the Office of Connected Care.

Goals For Eating and Moving: This study is a cluster-randomized trial of a technology-assisted weight management intervention funded by the NIH

WOOP VA: Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions to Promote Weight Management in Primary Care—This study will be funded by a VA Merit Review Award to conduct a Randomized Trial of a novel imagery technique to increase motivation to participate in a weight management program.