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As a pediatrician at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Dr. Samiya Razzaq sees patients of all shapes and sizes — quite literally. Razzaq is one of the doctors who works in the Fitness Clinic, the pediatric obesity clinic.

"It [the clinic] has seen over 1,000 children in eight years," Razzaq said. "Right now, if someone wanted to have their child seen, it would be several months before they could get in. We have so many people who want their children seen."

Razzaq rattled off some examples of the patients she has seen.

"We have one patient who weighs 280 pounds and is 10 years old," she said. "We have a 19-month-old who weighs 40 pounds."

The typical weight for that age is about half that.

"You can chart it out, and it can give you an idea of what the weight will be in the future," Razzaq said. "If something isn't done, the weight would be 400 or 500 pounds."

Razzaq said that most cases of extreme childhood obesity can be traced to a single point.

"It is usually some kind of childhood trauma," she said. "Usually something like the death of a loved one, or divorce or some common stressor. You can talk to the parents, and when you get the history, 75 percent of the time they will know what the trigger was."

Razzaq, the daughter of a Pakistani diplomat, was born in Pakistan but was educated in Japan and Australia before graduating from medical school in Pakistan. She did her residency in Miami before coming to work in Little Rock. Her father was once posted to a country in Africa that has recently received some notoriety due to the extended visit of two well-known celebrities — but more on that later.

Some strange advice about Arkansas was dispensed before she left Florida.

"They told me it was all potatoes and dirt roads," she said with a laugh. "I don't know where they got the potatoes from and I live in Little Rock — I don't see any dirt roads."

Since Razzaq's husband, who is also a doctor, was getting his training here, "It was just easier to move here," she said. She has been surprised so far. "It's really a very well-kept secret. I have a much better social life here than I did in Miami. I'm not very much of a party animal, and I definitely like the quiet lifestyle."

The interest in pediatrics came early.

"Where I'm from, children are not given a voice at all, children are not acknowledged," Razzaq said. "Just the relationship that I have with the whole family … it is a very holy relationship, the one between a doctor and a family. They will tell you things they wouldn't tell anyone else and when you are treating someone's child, they are putting that life in your hands. It is very important."

Razzaq added, "I became a much better pediatrician when I became a mother myself. I thought I understood before, but now I really know. I have two toddlers, so before when I was told that the mother had trouble taking a temp, I always thought, how could she have trouble taking a temp? But now I know how hard that can be."

Being a parent is a learning process and Razzaq, as a pediatrician, feels that she has a vital role.

"There is no book for people on how to be experts," she said. "The number one challenge for me is the completion of my instructions. Making sure that everything is followed. You have a lot of nontraditional families now. And you have to make sure that all the caregivers are educated and know what to do."

Now, about that African country.

The big news, the story that dominated television in the month of June, was that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had a baby together and the couple went to Namibia for the birth.

In true "six degrees of separation fashion," Razzaq had a connection back.

Her father, Mohammed Abdur Razzaq, was the interim ambassador to Namibia for Pakistan and she was familiar with the country.

"You saw the interview? Everyone saw the interview," Razzaq said of Jolie's sit-down with Anderson Cooper on CNN. "When she was talking about the hospital, how it lacked the modern technology, how it didn't have the ultrasound and it didn't have this and it didn't have that. I know exactly what she is talking about. I have been to that hospital. I know what they have. It was exactly the way she described it."

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