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  • D&O researchers Bornfeldt, Sweet and Kim awarded an NIH Supplemental Grant

    An investigative team comprised of Diabetes & Obesity Center of Excellence researchers Karin Bornfeldt PhD, Francis Kim MD and Ian Sweet PhD, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Researcher David Hockenbery MD, were awarded an NIH Supplemental Grant through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

    Funding is being provided to these 4 laboratories to collaboratively study factors mediating susceptibility to diabetic complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy and atherosclerosis. The seed grant will support this nascent group in establishing novel investigative approaches that will lay the foundation for long-term programmatic funding.

  • David Cummings MD and David Flum MD receive an NIH R01 grant
    David E. Cummings, MD, an Associate Professor in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition and investigator at the Diabetes & Obesity Center of Excellence, and David Flum, MD, a Professor in the Department of Surgery,  were awarded a five year, 2.2 million dollar NIH grant for their proposal entitled "Mechanisms of Glycemic Improvement Following GI Surgery."  The goal of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms mediating diabetes resolution following gastrointestinal surgery.
  • D&O researcher Alan Chait MD receives an NIH R01 grant
    Alan Chait, MD, Professor and Head of the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, was awarded a five year NIH grant for his proposal entitled "Effect of Nutritional Factors on Macrophage Accumulation in Adipose Tissue."   Dr. Chait is an investigator at the Diabetes & Obesity Center of Excellence.
  • Michael Schwartz MD and Gregory Morton PhD featured in Seattle Times

    Dr. Michael Schwartz, director of the Diabetes & Obesity Center of Excellence, and Center investigator Dr. Gregory Morton were featured in the Seattle Times article "Body's natural defenses fight fat, don't always win" on November 26, 2009.

    Click here to view the article.

  • David Cummings MD is senior author of statement on diabetes surgery

    David Cummings MD is senior author of an international consensus statement proposing that gastrointestinal surgery may be a viable alternative therapy for type 2 diabetes in some patients and pointing the way toward new directions in research. “The Diabetes Surgery Summit Consensus Conference: Recommendations for the Evaluation and Use of Gastrointestinal Surgery to Treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus,” the first such statement on the topic, was published online on November 24 in the Annals of Surgery.

    Dr. Cummings, associate professor of medicine and an investigator at the D&O Center, was a convenor of the 2007 international summit held to evaluate the evidence and develop guidelines for the use of bariatric surgery in type 2 diabetes. The group recommended that such surgery be considered a specific diabetes intervention and not be limited to patients with BMI >35. The statement has been endorsed by 21 scientific societies including the American College of Surgeons and the American Diabetes Association, and a taskforce was established to guide the study and development of diabetes surgery.

    UW Medicine News
    Dr. Cummings’s Medicine Grand Rounds on bariatric surgery and diabetes

  • Funding opportunities from UW Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center

    The UW Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center (DERC) invites applications for
    Pilot and Feasibility Research Awards to develop new research in the area of
    diabetes and related metabolic-endocrine disease. New and established
    investigators may apply for awards of up to $50,000 per year for 1 or 2 years.

    Applications also are invited for the new Samuel and Althea Stroum Endowed
    Graduate Fellowship in Diabetes Research. One award of $20,000 is available for
    any full-time UW graduate student pursuing diabetes-related research in a
    Ph.D.-granting program (but not those in M.D., Pharm.D., D.D.S., and J.D.
    programs).

    Letters of intent for both programs are due January 11 and should be submitted
    to Denis Baskin, derc@u.washington.edu. Full applications are due February 16,
    and funding begins July 1. Information and application details at DERC

  • David Cummings MD appears in KING TV feature on weight loss

    D&O Center investigator David Cummings, MD, appeared in a recent KING TV HealthLink news feature about the controversial use of a pregnancy hormone as a weight-loss aid. Dr. Cummings said that human chorionic gonadotropin, taken off label along with an extremely calorie-restricted diet, is ineffective and that to advocate such a regimen would be unethical.

  • D&O researcher Gregory Morton PhD receives Perkins Coie Award for Discovery

    Gregory J. Morton (MTE) has been selected as the 2010 recipient of the
    Perkins Coie Award for Discovery. He will receive $20,000 for his project
    "Normalization of Blood Glucose Levels in Uncontrolled Diabetes without
    Insulin." The award is the fourth in the law firm's five-year commitment
    to support translational research at the South Lake Union campus. Dr.
    Morton is a research assistant professor of medicine and an investigator
    with the UW Medicine Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence where he
    studies the role of the brain in the regulation of energy balance and
    glucose metabolism.

  • D&O Director Michael Schwartz MD receives Pfizer Visiting Professorship in Obesity Award

    Michael W. Schwartz (MTE) has received one of eight 2010 Pfizer Visiting
    Professorship in Obesity Awards from Pfizer Inc. These $7500 grants
    support three days of educational activities with a distinguished
    visiting expert. Dr. Schwartz has invited Philipp E. Scherer, PhD,
    professor of medicine at the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research, UT
    Southwestern Medical Center, to be the Pfizer Visiting Professor next
    fall. Dr. Schwartz is professor of medicine, head of the Section of
    Clinical Nutrition, and director of the UW Medicine Diabetes and Obesity
    Center of Excellence.

  • D&O researcher Joshua Thaler, MD, PhD, receives NIH/NIDDK K08 award

    Joshua Thaler has been awarded a K08 award from the NIH/NIDDK for his proposal entitled "Cellular Mechanisms of Hypothalmic Inflammation in High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity."  The goal of this research program is to determine brain mechanisms that govern anorexia and cachexia of illness in order to provide molecular targets for therapy.  Dr. Thaler is an Acting Instructor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Nutrition.