Dr. Patrick Mahlen O'Neil: MUSC's weight-loss guru

Dr. Patrick Mahlen O'Neil serves as proof that you don't need a road map to have a career that is productive and makes a difference in the world.

For more than three decades, O'Neil, who turned 64 this week, has made his mark in the world of obesity and weight management on an international level. The director of the Medical University of South Carolina's Weight Management Center is also the current president of the Obesity Society, a group of leading researchers.

Last fall, O'Neil was granted honorary membership to the American Dietetic Association, which has more than 70,000 members. It's the highest honor bestowed on someone who is not a registered dietitian.

Dr. Robert Malcolm, associate dean for continuing medical education at MUSC's College of Medicine, is a colleague, friend and fishing buddy of O'Neil's and describes him as "a national thought leader."

"He is both a well-known researcher and a fine clinician," says Malcolm. "Pat is a warm and engaging guy and a great teacher. He's mentored numerous young people who themselves have become outstanding researchers and clinicians."

Finding his niche

But as a young psychologist in the 1970s, the Cajun country native was drawn to weight management not by his own issues or a relative's, walking in someone's footsteps, the lure of great wealth or a master plan. Like other parts of his life, he basically describes it as stumbling into a right-place, right-time situation.

In 1974, Malcolm and Dr. Hal Currey had helped start the then-MUSC Weight Management Clinic. O'Neil, who worked primarily with the VA hospital, started working with the clinic.

"I found the whole area of weight management and obesity interesting on a number of counts," recalls O'Neil. "As a psychologist, it was appealing to have something that you were helping people to deal with that was very objectively measurable -- more so than anything else in psychology."

As he continued to work in the field, he became fascinated with the different pieces of the puzzle, from genetics and culture to public policy.

"All these systems are interacting with one another," says O'Neil. "You can say eat less, exercise more ... and that gets it, but that doesn't tell you why some people find it so much more difficult to eat less or to exercise more."

Serving Sullivan's

O'Neil's public service isn't limited to being a busy researcher.

With a heritage of public service, O'Neil has served on Sullivan's Island Town Council for a decade, after years on the town's planning commission.

Like his career, O'Neil seemed to just stumble into public office when he heard about an opening on the planning commission and submitted his application. Serving on the commission and then council has been time-consuming but a labor of love for O'Neil.

His fondness for Sullivan's Island, where he has lived since 1985, and the need to protect it are evident.

"(Sullivan's Island) has a small-town feel. It's not a gated community. It's not a destination resort. It's a small town surrounded by a beautiful environment and has a rich history," says O'Neil.

Mayor Carl Smith and O'Neil have differed on a recent hot-button issue, the plan for the new Sullivan's Island Elementary School, but Smith says that the detail-oriented O'Neil has "usually been the voice of reason on council."

"He's been a good, solid worker for the island and for council," says Smith.

In the genes

O'Neil's interest in public office may have roots in his father and grandfather, who served as a postmaster and police chief, respectively, and as school board members in Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana.

While they were Irish, O'Neil's mother was Cajun, and his ties to the bayou remain. He returns often to visit relatives in his small family, notably his brother, Shawn, who has Down syndrome and lives in a group home, and his cousin, Nora O'Connell.

"Pat and I are close," says O'Connell, who still lives in Louisiana. "I had no siblings. ... Growing up, we spent a lot of time together."

O'Connell says O'Neil was "very caring to his mom and dad," both of whom have passed away, and always came back for birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. O'Connell says O'Neil returns about twice a year but calls frequently. When he returns home, she adds, he always stocks up on local goodies, especially hog's head cheese and Cajun beef jerky.

Ahh, contentment

O'Neil has been a bachelor so long that he jokes that nobody even bothers to ask him who he's dating anymore.

O'Neil, who described himself as commitment challenged, seems content dedicating his time to research and the island. "He's happy where he is," O'Connell adds.

He has no plans to retire either. "I've been a late bloomer, and I'm enjoying where I am now," O'Neil adds. "I've had some very fine opportunities, so until I come in one day and the locks have been changed, I want to keep working."