James A. Levine MD PhD, is president of Fondation Ipsen, Paris, and a Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

Levine is an international expert on obesity. His research has focused on Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) and approaches to help people become more active, decrease cardiovascular risk and become healthier. He has developed multiple body-worn devices that measure physical activity and caloric intake, the treadmill desk and a variety of office & school solutions to promote NEAT.

He’s authored both “Move A Little Lose A Lot” and “Get Up!” as well as more than 200 scientific articles, including 6 in the journals Science and Nature. He has received more than 50 awards in science including from NASA, the World Trade Fair and the White House. Levine is also a novelist who’s been published in 37 countries, and won National Book Awards in the USA, France and Japan.

James’ talk

The Fidget Factor: the remarkable ability of our tiniest movements to keep us fit

Professor James Levine discovered the Fidget Factor which is why people move. His 50 years of research proved that excess sitting is dangerous.

His research started as a 9-year-old boy studying the movement of snails. Half a century later, he came to deeply understand a person’s urge to move and why some of us are sentenced to our chairs.

Published in the world’s leading scientific journals, the doctor has treated hundreds of patients; reinvented scores of offices; redesigned hundreds of schools and invented a bucket-full of gadgets. James can teach us how to engage our fidget factors, move at will, drop pounds and be healthier and happier.