DescreiptionIndividuals with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and obesity, often resulting in a decreased lifespan. Clinicians must address this critical issue. There is a complicated, interconnected set of factors driving this correlation, including: medications that increase cardiometabolic burden, symptoms of the illness itself, as well genetic factors that confer risk for both bipolar disorder and metabolic complications. Dr. Mark Frye has more than twenty-five years of experience as a clinician, researcher and advocate. He is the former chair of the psychiatry department at Mayo Clinic, where he is now a professor of psychiatry. He is also the director of the scientific advisory board for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).