About the Authors

Ghanshyam Palamaner Subash Shantha

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Internal Medicine, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Anita Ashok Kumar

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Scott Kahan

Affiliations Department of Health Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Health Policy, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, D.C., United States of America, Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Pavan Kumar Irukulla

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Lawrence Jay Cheskin

lcheskin@jhsph.edu

Affiliations Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

We have the following interests. Lawrence Jay Cheskin serves as a consultant and stockholder for Medifast, Inc. and Vivus, Inc. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GPSS AAK SK PKI LJC. Performed the experiments: GPSS AAK SK PKI LJC. Analyzed the data: GPSS AAK PKI LJC. Wrote the manuscript: GPSS AAK SK PKI LJC. Authors involved in screening tool analysis: GPSS AAK PKI. Physicians involved in the care of study patients: SK LJC.