Physician Investigator (Cl) Weight Center Physicians, Mass General Research Institute

Instructor in Pediatrics Harvard Medical School

Assistant In Pediatrics Pediatrics-Pediatric Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital

MBBS Indira Ghandi Medical College 2008

childhood obesity; insulin resistance; marijuana; obesity; thyroid function tests; toll-like receptor 2; toll-like receptor 4

Dr. Malhotra has worked on investigating the role of important receptors named “Toll like receptor 2 and 4” (TLR-2 and TLR-4) in the pathogenesis of obesity, insulin resistance, and other obesity related complications in children and adolescents. The results from this study will provide crucial information about the underlying mechanism of how the inflammatory response is triggered in childhood obesity, and how it can lead to complications of childhood obesity. 

She is currently collaborating with the Rhythm pharmaceuticals in a study for Genetic Testing and Phenotypic Characterization of Severely Obese Pediatric and Adult Volunteers, the objective of which is to identify individuals with severe, early onset morbid obesity (EOMO), who are suspected to have mutations in the POMC, PCSK1 or LepR gene, leading to clinical presentation of Melanocortin 4 (MC4R) pathway deficiency obesity.

Other areas of her research include elucidating anti-neoplastic treatment effectiveness in cancer patients with concomitant obesity.

Dr. Malhotra published the pioneer study examining the effects of current marijuana use on thyroid function and autoimmunity in human subjects. The  study reported that current marijuana use, in short term, is associated with lower levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which is the key regulatory hormone controlling the thyroid gland. In lines with these pivotal findings several studies are in process of further investigating the prospective effects of marijuana use on the various other hormonal axes in humans.