The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has announced a grant of nearly $1 million to the Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas to establish the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity.

A collaboration between Dell Children's Medical Center, UT Southwestern, UT Austin, and the Child Study Center, the new center will serve children from central Texas and beyond who are looking to make healthy lifestyle changes and receive treatment for childhood obesity. In addition, the center will work with community groups to build capacity and help reverse the obesity epidemic at the local level; provide a much-needed medical perspective on public policy initiatives; and engage in research to advance knowledge, document success, and expand services related to obesity.

Over the past year, doctors from several of the collaborating institutions have been working to develop and launch the Healthy Living Happy Living (Vida Sana Vida Feliz) obesity intervention clinic, which will open in April at the Dell Children's Specialty Care Center and represents the first operational phase of the center.

"Obesity is a problem of monumental proportions, and central Texas sits in the middle of a state that has been especially affected," said Dr. Stephen Pont, the center's medical director. "We are so grateful for this support from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to establish this much needed center."