# Richard Morgan Downey

Richard Morgan Downey is an American obesity advocate, consultant, and editor of the Downey Obesity Report. Downey is a former executive director of the American Obesity Association and has been actively involved in the obesity field since 1998. He organized the first conference on obesity as a public policy issue in 1999 and has testified before Congressional Committees. He has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.

## Anti-obesity activism

Downey, at the American Obesity Association (AOA), conducted the first conferences on obesity as a public policy issue. The first AOA conference featured Surgeon General David Satcher. In 2000, the AOA conference was the first in which representatives of presidential campaigns addressed obesity. Downey was involved in an Internal Revenue System Revenue Ruling that made expenses for weight loss treatment eligible for medical deduction on individual taxes. During his career, he also helped promote the recognition of obesity as a disease and pushed Surgeon General David Satcher to focus on obesity. This lead to a Surgeon General's report and expanded Medicare coverage of bariatric surgery.
From 2006 to 2008, he was the executive vice president of the Obesity Society. While there, Downey initiated a program to develop a credential to recognize physicians specializing in the treatment of obesity. He conducted a forum in 2007 entitled "What Should the Next Administration Do About Obesity?" Representatives from nine presidential campaigns were present at the forum.
In 2008, Downey conducted similar forums at both the Democratic and Republican National Party Conventions. Many national politicians were present at these forums. Obesity was mentioned in the Democratic and Republican party platforms in 2008, following discussions at the national conventions.
Downey currently consults with several organizations on obesity issues and serves as the Policy Director of the STOP Obesity Alliance (part of George Washington University's School of Public Health) and Health Services, and is a member of the steering committee of the Coalition to Prevent DVT.

## Communication disorders activism

From 1988 to 1996, Downey led the National Coalition for Research on Neurological and Communicative Disorders (NCR). NCR successfully worked with the late Silvio Conte (R-MA) to pass the Congressional Resolution, signed by President George H. W. Bush, declaring the 1990s the "Decade of the Brain". Downey helped establish the National Foundation for Brain Research (NFBR).
While in private practice, Downey directed the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Academy for Neurologic Communication Disorders and the International Neural Network Society. Downey helped found the FSH Society. Prior to going into private practice, Downey was director of governmental and legal affairs for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. He led successful efforts for requiring judicial review of Medicare Part B benefits, Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration regulation of hearing aid sales, the hearing conservation regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the establishment of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and enactment of the Noise Control Act.

## Campaign financing activism

Before joining ASHA, Downey worked for John Gardner at Common Cause. He promoted reforms of campaign financing laws, lobby disclosure, and open meetings. He was involved in an effort by Common Cause in Massachusetts to place a Good Government initiative on the ballot.
Downey worked for Ralph Nader and promoted reforms of the presidential campaign financing system and lobbied for higher penalties for corporate crime.

## Anti-war activism

In the early 1970s, Downey was active in the anti-war movement including the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam in October 1968 and the demonstration in Washington in May 1970 following the invasion of Cambodia and the shootings at Kent State. In summer 1968 Downey began working for Senator George McGovern and worked on the McGovern-Hatfield amendment.
As a conscientious objector, Downey performed alternate service with Americans for Indian Opportunity, an educational group for recognition of Native American civil rights. He worked on the legislation returning Taos Blue Lake to the traditional tribe and on the Indian Education Act. During law school, he worked on the staff of the McGovern-Fraser Commission on revisions to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination process.

## Personal life

Downey grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Xavier High School. He received his bachelor's degree in history from Fairfield University in 1968 and Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1971. Downey married journalist Dotty Lynch in 2003.