Michelle Cardel, PhD, RD

03/21/2026

The last two weeks in Australia 🇦🇺 has been nothing short of incredible.

From hiking to waterfalls and swimming in places that felt straight out of a dream, to surf lessons and long walks by the ocean… this trip filled our cups in every way.

Sydney brought a different kind of magic - meaningful work, inspiring conversations, and time with wonderful colleagues and friends. I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my Kailera Therapeutics medical affairs and clinical development colleagues and to teach investigators and dietitians and contribute to the important work supporting patients on GLP-1 therapies in our phase 3 clinical trials on injectable ribupatide.

In between it all, we reconnected with an old friend on the Gold Coast and had the joy of meeting his family, and experienced unforgettable moments like seeing Madama Butterfly at the Sydney Opera House.

But what means the most is sharing all of this with my family - showing my kids the world, exploring together, and creating memories I know we’ll carry forever.

Feeling incredibly grateful for work that allows me to be in such meaningful spaces,
and even more grateful when I get to bring the people I love along for the adventure 🤍

03/11/2026

First four days of our Australia trip have been epic. Highlights so far have been camping 🏕️ at the for Roar and Snore 😴, hiking in the Blue Mountains, and spending time checking out the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. Beyond grateful to have this epic adventure with my family ❤️❤️❤️

03/04/2026

I’m excited to share that I joined Kailera Therapeutics in February as Senior Medical Director for Medical Affairs.

Obesity is a serious, chronic disease that deserves the same rigor, compassion, and nuance as any other complex condition. Too many people have faced stigma, limited options, and fragmented care for far too long. That’s the work our team is here to help change.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked designing behavioral interventions, conducted research utilizing a variety of obesity treatments including pharmacotherapy, and dedicated my career to the study of obesity and nutrition. Most recently, I spent five years at WeightWatchers, including serving as Chief Nutrition Officer, while maintaining my role as co-Director for the Center for Integrative Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease at the University of Florida. Stepping into Kailera feels like a natural next chapter in this journey.

One of my core values is impact. I’ve seen how powerful it can be when we combine lifestyle and behavior change with pharmacotherapy and clinical innovation.

In this role, my goal is to ensure that people living with obesity, and their perspectives, sit at the center of how we generate, interpret, and share evidence.

That means:
✅ Listening to patients and caregivers as we design research and trials
✅ Partnering with clinicians, researchers, and advocacy groups
✅ Communicating clearly and responsibly about emerging therapies
✅ Keeping lifestyle and behavior change embedded in conversations about treatment

I am thrilled to work with such an incredible team and take on this new challenge ❤️

03/03/2026

Obesity is a complex, chronic disease and the way we talk about it, treat it, and advocate for people living with it matters.

📅 March 2–8 is Obesity Care Week

This week is a call to action to improve access to evidence-based care and to eliminate the stigma and bias that too often stand in the way of treatment.

People living with obesity deserve:
✔️ Respect
✔️ Evidence-based care
✔️ Access to comprehensive treatment options
✔️ Freedom from weight bias

As someone deeply committed to advancing rigorous science and compassionate care, I am proud to say that I am .

I invite colleagues, clinicians, researchers, and advocates to take the pledge and stand together in support of better care for all.

🔗 Learn more and get involved: https://ow.ly/MtL150YmHeO

02/17/2026

💙After nearly 5 incredible years, I’m closing a meaningful chapter at WeightWatchers💙

I’m so proud of what our team built - publishing 60+ peer-reviewed scientific papers, helping develop the first validated Food Noise Questionnaire with Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and supporting WW’s evolution into a new era with the first behavioral program designed specifically for people using GLP-1s. I had the honor of representing WW on global stages, in major media outlets, and alongside an extraordinary scientific community.

Most of all, I’m grateful for the people - the brilliant, mission-driven colleagues, the WW members who taught me so much (you all are amazing!), our scientific advisory board, and the lifelong friendships formed along the way. And yes… meeting Oprah Winfrey was nice too.

I’m excited to be stepping into a new role and can’t wait to share more soon.

02/15/2026

Feeding an 8- and 11-year-old who live on sports fields is equal parts nutrition, logistics, and vibes 😅⚽️🏀

Our goal isn’t perfection. It’s aiming to eat a variety of foods and cover our bases. We aim for meals with protein, fiber, & healthy fats, and we try to eat the rainbow so we’re getting in different vitamins & minerals and covering our bases. 🌈

The kids eat the same food we do (me + my husband)… just often deconstructed. Sauce on the side. Veggies separate. Everyone’s happy.

We prioritize whole, minimally processed foods when we can, but let’s be real, life happens and balance matters so that’s not always possible.

Fueling growing, active bodies while keeping food joyful. That’s the goal. ❤️🍽️

What are things you do to keep your family fed?

01/20/2026

One reason people are pi**ed that people are taking medications, like

01/20/2026

01/19/2026

Things that annoy the sh*t out of me as a registered dietitian. Headline edition.

01/15/2026

2016 ✨

I was a brand-new mom and completely, joyfully obsessed with my kid. She went everywhere with me - conferences, hikes, snowshoeing adventures, to the lab, and on the boat with friends. If I was going, she was coming too. 💕

That year we visited Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Colorado, introducing our girl to the beauty of family time and the outdoors. I was also a new assistant professor at and was doing research and teaching, sharing nutrition information for families on TV and social media, and learning how to balance ambition with motherhood (still learning, honestly).

We were settling into our first home, one we bought in November 2015, and making it ours. I was madly in love with my husband, deeply grateful for our little family, and felt incredibly blessed by the life we were building.

And woven through all of it was family - so much time with my parents, siblings, and sister-in-law, and precious moments with my beloved grandmother, who was 86 then and died in June 2025 (and we miss her every day!). Generations together, love everywhere, memories I hold especially close. 🤍

So much togetherness. So much gratitude. So much love. 2016 was one for the books.

12/31/2025

I’ve always loved reading.
It’s my solace. The thing that settles my brain, slows my breathing, and helps me truly relax as a highly driven person.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I remember people telling me, “You won’t be able to be a working mom and keep up your reading.” I rejected that idea immediately. Not because I thought it would be easy, but because I believe deeply that if something matters to you, you find ways to make space for it.

That doesn’t mean I always read as much as I want. Some nights I get only a few pages in before exhaustion wins. Life is full, busy, and often chaotic. But I made a promise to myself to keep this piece of joy in my life, no matter how full the calendar gets.

As the nerd I proudly am (and someone who loves goal-setting), I started setting a yearly reading goal several years ago. This year, my kids encouraged me to stretch it to 55 books for 2025. They reminded me I could do it, cheered me on, and celebrated every milestone along the way, often asking me what number book I just finished.

And this year, I hit 55 books.
I’m incredibly grateful-not just for the books, but for the reminder that joy is worth protecting, and that our children are always watching how we honor what matters to us.

Here’s your gentle encouragement: you don’t have to do everything perfectly. You just have to keep choosing the things that fill you up, even in small moments. Those choices add up. ❤️

12/02/2025