11-07-2025
In the Age of Ozempic, Kim Boyd Named WeightWatchers' Chief Medical Officer
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Kim Boyd has held a lot of different titles: U.S. national team gymnast, Stanford Academic All-American, board-certified doctor, national medical director. The list goes on, and it's nowhere near finished.
"I still don't entirely know what I want to be when I grow up," Boyd told Newsweek. "And that openness has been a gift."
Most recently, her inclination to take the path less traveled has led Boyd to WeightWatchers, the 62-year-old health and wellness company angling for a major comeback.
Just two months after filing for bankruptcy, WeightWatchers announced Tuesday it had completed its strategic reorganization process—successfully eliminating $1.15 billion in debt—as well as its plans to launch a new menopause program, to relist on the Nasdaq and to appoint Boyd as the company's chief medical officer.
Boyd is not new to the world of metabolic health, women's health and obesity care, but her move to WeightWatchers—a legacy weight-loss empire that has been around since 1961—is a step in a different direction.
Over the last decade, Boyd has helped lead and scale newer health care startups, like Calibrate, Caire, Galileo and Nurx. And although One Medical is no longer considered a startup (the company went public in 2020 and was acquired by Amazon in 2022), the disruptive, tech-based primary care practice was a startup during the seven years Boyd spent there.
"In retrospect, the tapestry of my career makes sense," she said. "But the most pivotal moments often came from choosing instinct and idealism over the safe or expected path."
Women's Global Impact: Kim Boyd
Women's Global Impact: Kim Boyd
Newsweek Illustration
This has been a tendency that Boyd has carried with her since med school. At Stanford, she chose to pursue primary care instead of surgery—a "slightly crazy" decision according to many of her professors, she said.
"That decision became a turning point—staying true to my core, even if it meant taking a less prestigious path," she said. "It opened unexpected doors and set the tone for a career defined not by convention but by alignment with purpose, curiosity and a willingness to take risks."
"The truth is, there was no trail to follow in the path I've taken," she said, adding, "If I had simply followed a predetermined course that I charted in medical school, I would have missed out on the most meaningful—and unexpected—chapters of my career."
Boyd attributes her willingness to say yes to new cities, new roles and new ideas as having guided her into spaces she never could have imagined when she was still in school.
"This kind of career didn't exist yet," she said. "The careers we'll see 15 or 20 years from now are also likely yet to be shaped."
Over the last two decades, the national weight-loss conversation has transformed from restriction-based dieting of the early 2000s to the wellness-oriented "clean" eating of the 2010s and into today's Ozempic era.
WeightWatchers, too, has changed with the times. Massively popular in 2005, the company's original model—characterized by its point-counting system and group meetings—drew in millions of members around the world. As the culture began embracing body positivity, and WeightWatchers began losing members and struggling to compete with newer platforms, the company changed again in 2015, rebranding as a "lifestyle" rather than a diet and announcing Oprah Winfrey as both spokesperson and board member.
Now, WeightWatchers is up against another inflection point.
The emergence and popularity of weight loss drugs, like Ozempic and Mounjaro, have sparked a seismic shift in the United States. About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in May 2024.
About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF...
About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in May 2024. Boyd called the drugs "especially impactful" for women in perimenopause and menopause. More
WeightWatchers
While grocers, restaurants and food manufacturers were forced to grapple with the nation's declining appetite, dieting brands have been forced to find relevance in a world where losing weight is suddenly easy. Even Winfrey, who left WeightWatchers' board of directors in 2024, has begun using GLP-1-related medications.
"Why do we need WeightWatchers if we have Zepbound and Wegovy?" Winfrey asked then-CEO Sima Sistani, during a prime-time special on ABC last year.
"WeightWatchers is not just about weight loss, it's about community, it's about education, it's about care; that's our new philosophy," Sistani responded.
As the company transformed itself again and began offering prescription weight-loss drugs, WeightWatchers announced in October 2023 that it would appoint its first-ever chief medical officer as part of the company's "commitment to providing the most clinically proven tools and interventions surrounding weight health." Boyd will be the second person to serve in that role.
"GLP-1s are game-changing medications," Boyd told Newsweek. "They deliver weight-loss outcomes previously only seen with bariatric surgery—and they also improve key markers of cardiometabolic health. These are powerful tools that are transforming how we approach weight and metabolic care. And we know these medications work best when paired with targeted nutrition, physical activity, lifestyle support and community.
WeightWatchers' new chief medical officer added that these drugs can be "especially impactful" for women in perimenopause and menopause, a group that the company plans to support with a new program that will launch later this year. In a press release announcing the expansion, WeightWatchers said the plans are "a strategic move to address a broader gap in health care."
"This new program is a natural evolution of our mission—to deliver sustainable, science-backed care," Boyd said.
"This is about helping women feel better now and improving their long-term health and longevity," she said. "Women deserve accurate information and real solutions based on the best science—delivered through a holistic platform that combines clinical care, lifestyle change, expert support and community."
WeightWatchers' approach to wellness in 2025 looks much like Boyd's personal views on health.
Growing up as an athlete, Boyd recalls spending a lot of time in doctors' offices and looking at the row of casts that lined up against her bedroom wall. As a former national team gymnast, from a young age, she developed a deep awareness of her body. She knows when her body is functioning at its highest caliber or when things feel slightly off.
"That early exposure shaped how I think about health today: not just as the absence of illness but as the ability to perform, recover and adapt," she said. "It also opened me up to a broader toolbox early on—things like acupuncture, targeted nutrition and integrative approaches to health."
Today, Boyd describes wellness as "an outcome of many inputs working together over time." The most important step in her own routine is not one workout or food group but continued recognition that health, for her, is a "core value."
"Some days, that means prioritizing movement and sleep. Other times, it's about being intentionally present with my family, getting outside, or choosing foods that help my body feel its best," she said. "It's less about perfection and more about trying to pay attention to what supports me in showing up fully."
Boyd will join Newsweek at this year's inaugural Women's Global Impact forum. The August 5 event, hosted at Newsweek's headquarters in New York City, will bring together some of the world's top female executives and connect them with rising stars across industries and job functions.
For more information on the event and entry guidelines, please visit the Women's Global Impact homepage.
