Peter Reaven, M.D.
"Diabetes and Vascular Disease: New Research and Clinical Complications"
Peter Reaven Is a Research Professor at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. He
is also a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is the Director of the Diabetes Program Veterans
Affairs Health Care System. His research interests include the study of the mechanisms and treatment of diabetes and the scope of his
research includes large, prospective, multicenter randomized clinical trials as well as basic research into the signaling process
involved with vascular inflammation and dysfunction. His group has led the investigation into the role of saturated fatty acids
in inducing monocyte and vascular inflammation in diabetes, described the role of adipose inflammation in atherosclerosis as well
as effects of older and novel anti-diabetes medications on vascular complications in diabetes. His group, therefore, has extensive
expertise in identifying inflammatory signaling pathways leading to vascular dysfunction in the setting of metabolic stress.
Jean Schaffer, M.D.
"Unexpected Regulators of Metabolic Stress”
| Jean Schaffer is the Virginia Minnich Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director
of the Diabetic Cardiovascular Disease Center and Diabetes Research Center at Washington University School of
Medicine. Her research lab is focused on characterizing the fundamental cellular mechanisms of metabolic stress
and characterizing how this process contributes to the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases. Work in her lab involves
genetic screens in cultured cells to identify molecular mechanisms, study of genetically modified mouse models to
characterize the contributions of these mechanisms to pathophysiology, and extension of their findings to biomarker
and intervention studies in human subjects. Given the high prevalence of metabolic disease and the significant
morbidity and mortality which cardiovascular complications entail, they are motivated to translate their findings to
human subjects. Ongoing work in the Schaffer laboratory is focusing on development of integrated measures of systemic
lipid metabolism and identification of biomarkers for diabetic complications related to lipotoxicity. |
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Randy Seeley, Ph.D.
"Bariatric Surgery: It’s not what you think it is.
Molecular targets for the effects of surgery on obesity and diabetes"
Randy Seeley is Professor of Medicine and holds the Donald C. Harrison Endowed Chair at the University
of Cincinnati College of Medicine. In 2009, Dr. Seeley was appointed as the Director of the Cincinnati Diabetes and Obesity
Center (CDOC). His scientific work has focused on the actions of various peripheral hormones in the CNS that serve to regulate
food intake, body weight and the levels of circulating fuels. In particular, he has focused upon the numerous hypothalamic
and G.I. peptides and their associated receptors that influence both energy intake as well as peripheral metabolic processes
with a focus on developing new treatment strategies for both obesity and diabetes.
Dr. Seeley received his B.A. from Grinnell College in 1989 and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. He
then spent two years as a fellow and two years on the faculty at the University of Washington before locating to the University
of Cincinnati in 1997. He has published over 225 peer-reviewed articles including articles in Science, Nature, Nature Medicine,
Nature Neuroscience, Cell Metabolism, The Journal of Clincial Investigation and the New England Journal of Medicine. Collectively,
this work has been cited more than 20,000 times. He is the recipient of the 2003 Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from the North
American Association for the Study of Obesity (now named The Obesity Society) given to the individual with the highest level of
scientific achievement in obesity research in North America less than 15 years after their terminal degree. He is also the
co-recipient of the 2008 Ernst Oppenheimer award from the Endocrine Society. This Award is the premier award to an investigator
under the age of 45 in recognition of meritorious accomplishment in the field of basic or clinical endocrinology. He also received
the 2009 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award (sometimes referred to as the “Lilly Award”) from the American Diabetes Association.
This award is presented to an individual medical researcher under age 45 who has made an outstanding contribution to diabetes research
that demonstrates both originality and independence of thought.
Dr. Seeley has also served on numerous review panels for the NIH and was Chair of the Integrative Physiology of Obesity and Diabetes
review panel. He currently serves on the NIDDK Clinical Obesity Research Panel and on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science.
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