Initiative for
Diabetes, Metabolic Disorders, and Obesity
One of the greatest threats to world health today is the pandemic of diabetes. Worldwide, the number of cases is expected to grow to 380 million by 2025 if serious action is not taken by leading scientists today.
Weill Cornell has the interdisciplinary expertise to examine the complex factors that contribute to diabetes and the associated rise of obesity and other related metabolic disorders. The Discoveries Campaign will allow Weill Cornell to leverage its existing team of talented scientists with key hires of additional world-class diabetes and obesity specialists. Scientists at Weill Cornell are pursuing research in risk factors and prevention strategies, while working to create new, more effective treatments for those living with diabetes. Researchers are working across specialties to understand the basic biology and genetics of diabetes and obesity and to expeditiously translate these discoveries into novel therapeutic approaches.
Weill Cornell investigations include studying the effects of bariatric surgeries on obesity and cancer; the use of islet cells in kidney transplantation, providing a promising new cell therapy for the cure of type 1 diabetes; and ongoing clinical trials on glucose control. It is now recognized that the risk for diabetes is partly dependent on lifestyle, but is also dependent on the genetic makeup of the individual. Weill Cornell research programs in genetic medicine are furthering understanding of the interaction of the environment and genetics in the risk for diabetes, and how genetic variations cause disarray in the metabolism of carbohydrates, as well as developing new therapies to treat the epidemic of diabetes and obesity.
“The problems of diabetes and obesity are complex, but by assembling teams of creative physician - scientists and Ph.D. scientists we are poised to make enormous progress in this generation.”
— Andrew I. Schafer, M.D., The E. Hugh Luckey Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Ronald Crystal, M.D., the Bruce Webster Professor of Internal Medicine and Chairman of Genetic Medicine
Francesco Rubino, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, is a world-renowned pioneer of surgery for type 2 diabetes.
Learn more about the relationship between obesity and cancer.
For more information on diabetes initiatives and research, contact Lucille Ferraro, Campaign Director, at 646–317–7387, or development@med.cornell.edu.
