Breaking bonds with a world-renowned and sometimes infamous weightloss center, Medical Center officials confirmed this week that they intend to end their affiliation with the Rice Diet program as of July 31.
The diet center has treated 18,000 patients, including many celebrities, since its inception in 1939, but officials said an increasingly distant relationship led to the move to eliminate funding and other connections. Dr. Francis Neelon, associate professor of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition, who is associated with the program, said that both he and the center's medical director Dr. Robert Rosati, hope to continue the program independently and make a smooth transition.
"It was a bit of a surprise," he said. "The biggest thing [is that] we want to make sure things keep going exactly as they were before."
The program, founded by the late Dr. Walter Kempner in 1939 and originally designed to treat high blood pressure and kidney disease, brought attention to Durham as a dieting Mecca. Today's version of the program--located in northwestern Durham--is a strict diet that allows patients to consume between 800 and 1,000 calories per day with little or no sodium.
Dr. Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of the Duke University Health System, said the Medical Center would not easily find a charismatic leader to take the program over.
"[We had] no obvious replacement, since we have been very distant from the Rice Diet, since Dr. [Walter] Kempner stepped down [as director]," he said. "We felt it best not to bring it back into the institution. It's been distant from us for well over a decade."
A story in the Herald-Sun of Durham also quoted an unnamed Duke spokesperson Tuesday, who said that one of the reasons for Duke's decision was because Rosati, an associate professor of cardiology, was retiring. But Neelon said Duke's decision prompted both his and Rosati's retirement.
"You always think about [retiring], but we hadn't made any plans to do it," Neelon said.
He said Rosati had been in discussions with Medical Center officials about how to pay for certain elements of the program, but that disaffiliation had never been seriously considered until the program received an e-mail from Dr. Barton Haynes, chair of the Department of Medicine, announcing the decision.
Neelon also said that the remaining staff numbers only around eight or 10. Duke employee benefits, such as the tuition benefit, will no longer be available, but Neelon and Rosati have offered positions for anyone who wanted to stay.
Neelon did not know exactly how much the program's operations cost, but Snyderman said the program was close to a break-even venture.
Rosati was on vacation and could not be reached. Haynes and DUHS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer William Donelan were both out of town as well and could not be reached for comment.
The Rice Diet has always had doubters in the medical community. "A lot of people looked askance at this, and the fact that [Kempner] was able to undo a variably lethal condition was met with great skepticism across the country and here too," Neelon said.
Snyderman said that although the diet works for many people, the extremely intense restrictions ensure a high rate of recidivism and that many patients regain the weight they lose while in Durham.
The Rice Diet also made negative headlines in the 1990s after former client Sharon Ryan sued both Kempner and the University for sexual abuse. The University and Kempner's estate formally settled the case in 1998.
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