Program Administration
The T32 program will be directed by Dr. O’Doherty, who will chair a Training Committee composed of two Co-Directors (Orchard and DeFranco), and four members (Freeman, Korytkowski, Kershaw, Toledo). Both Co-Directors (De Franco and Orchard) have led T32 programs in their own disciplines. The four members are the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology (Freeman), the interim Chief of Endocrinology (Korytkowski) and two more junior, but outstanding, Division of Endocrinology faculty (Toledo and Kershaw). An Internal Advisory Board (IAB) will be composed of two Division Chiefs (Gladwin and Kleyman), both of whom are current T32 Directors, and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Program Integration in the Health Sciences (Grandis), who is also a T32 Director. An External Advisory Board (EAB) will be composed of three leaders in the field of Endocrinology (Stewart, Davis, Hammes). Dr. Stewart is currently the Director of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute at Mt. Sinai in New York City. He was previously the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Pittsburgh and PI of this T32 program. Dr. Davis is the Chair of Medicine at the University of Maryland, Program Director of the General Clinical Research Center, Co-Director of the University of Maryland Clinical and Translational Science Institute, former Chief of Endocrinology at Vanderbilt University, and a renowned clinician-scientist. Dr. Hammes is the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Director of the University of Rochester Endocrinology Fellowship Program. These core program leaders, in combination with our outstanding research mentors, provide both the experience and commitment to managing this training program and promoting the scientific and career development of the next generation of academic leaders in the field of Endocrinology.
Director
Dr. O’Doherty is a tenured Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and the current PI of this T32. He is also the Director of the Metabolic Diseases Research Center, and a member of the Recruitment and Research Oversight Committees for the Clinical Endocrine Fellowship Program. He has served as a full member of the NIH Integrated Physiology of Obesity and Diabetes (IPOD) study section, and as a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the American Diabetes Association annual meeting. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Diabetes and the American Journal of Physiology. His research focuses on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms that underpin metabolic dysregulation in obesity and type 2 diabetes. His work has been supported by the NIH and ADA.
Co-Directors
Dr. DeFranco is a Professor and Vice-Chair of Medical Education, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Assistant Dean of Medical Student Research at the University of Pittsburgh. He has served as a full member of the NIH Biomedical Research and Research Training (BRT) study section, which reviews T32 grants, as well as numerous other study sections. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Endocrinology. His research focuses on glucocorticoid receptor function including the mechanisms of glucocorticoid receptor transactivation, interaction with coactivators, subcellular and subnuclear trafficking, interactions with molecular chaperones, and processing. His work has been supported by the NIH.
Dr. Orchard is a Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. He has twice served as Interim Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, and is the current PI of a T32 Training Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology. He is an expert in the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and diabetes complications. He is the PI of the NIH-funded Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications Study, which has resulted in over 150 papers on type 1 diabetes complications. He has also served as the Chair of the External Scientific Evaluation Committee for the SEARCH study of diabetes in youth, and has been involved with the Community Cardiovascular Surveillance Project, the Allegheny County IDDM registry, the Diabetes Epidemiology Research International Studies, and the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and its Follow-up study.
Members
Dr. Freeman is the Irwin Fridovich Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, having previously founded the University of Alabama Center for Free Radical Biology. He has made major contributions to the T32 within his Department. Numerous graduate and postdoctoral trainees from his laboratory have become leaders in their fields. His research expertise, for which he has received worldwide recognition and extensive NIH funding, is the cell and tissue formation and actions of reactive species (free radical and oxidant inflammatory/signal transduction mediators), with the goal of understanding fundamental mechanisms of redox signaling and tissue injury. He has recently extended his work in this area to the study of Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity.
Dr. Kershaw is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh. She has experience with leadership of research training programs via her role as the Associate Program Director for Research for the Clinical Endocrine Fellowship Program, and as a member of the recruitment, research oversight, and competency committees for the Clinical Endocrine Fellowship Program. She additionally serves as a member of the Physician Scientist Training Program Steering Committee at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research program focuses on the role of intracellular lipid metabolism in glucose homeostasis and insulin action with a specific emphasis on novel lipid metabolizing enzymes and lipid droplet proteins. Her work has been supported by grants from the NIH and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Dr. Korytkowski is a Professor of Medicine and Interim Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also the Chair of the University of UPMC’s Diabetes Patient Safety Committee. She is an editorial board member for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and an associate editor of the British Medical Journal Open–Diabetes Research & Care. She is on the Research Grant Review Committee for the ADA, where she has also served as a member of the Professional Practice Committee and the Board of Directors. She is engaged in clinical diabetes research, focusing on interventions that promote glycemic and metabolic control in patients with diabetes. She has been the site PI and co-investigator on several national clinical trials related to diabetes care, including the BARI 2D and Look AHEAD Studies.
Dr. Toledo is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Co-Director of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center (EMRC), a clinical research unit devoted to translational research in humans. He serves as an Assistant Fellowship Program Director in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. His current research interests are in the etiology and treatment of diabetes and obesity in humans. His work has been supported by grants from the NIH, American Diabetes Association, and the Department of Defense. He is a member of the American Diabetes Association, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and the Endocrine Society.
Internal Advisory Board
Dr. Gladwin is Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine (PACCM), Director of the Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, and the current Director of a PACCM T32 Training Program. Dr. Gladwin is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigators (ASCI) and the Council of the ASCI where he promotes a vision for enhanced translational T1 research support and training. He is recognized internationally as an expert in translational lung research. His work is supported by multiple NIH awards, including two R01s, and a translational PPG through the NHLBI. A central passion of Dr. Gladwin is to train the next generation of physicians and scientists in Translational Research.
Dr. Grandis holds the UPMC Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Surgical Research. She is Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, Director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Program Integration in the Health Sciences. She is the Director of an NIH T32 Training Program in Otolaryngology. She is an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, and member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of The National Academies in 2012. Her current research focuses on signal transduction in head and neck cancers, with an emphasis on using genomic alterations in the tumor to guide therapy. Her work is supported by the NIH.
Dr. Kleyman is the Sheldon Adler Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Renal-Electrolyte Division at the University of Pittsburgh, a Professor of Cell Biology, and of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and the Director of the Pittsburgh Center for Kidney Research, and the George M. O’Brien Kidney Research Core Center. He is the Director of NIH T32 and T35 Training Programs. He recently served as the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology and is currently the deputy editor-in-chief of Physiological Reports. He has served on numerous editorial boards and NIH study sections. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. His research focuses on epithelial ion channels, with an emphasis on studies of the structure, biosynthetic processing, and regulation of epithelial Na+ channels. His work is supported by grants from the NIH.
External Advisory Board
Dr. Davis is the Theodore E. Woodward Endowed Chair, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland. He is Director of the General Clinical Research Center, Physician-in-Chief, and Co-Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Maryland. He has received numerous awards, including the Southern Section AFCR Young Faculty Award, the Novartis Award for Diabetes Research, Fellowship of the United Kingdom Royal College of Physicians, and Vanderbilt University’s Grant W. Liddle Award for Clinical Research. He has been elected to the American College of Endocrinologists and is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians. His research focuses on hypoglycemic counterregulatory dysfunction, exercise physiology, autonomic nervous system control of metabolism and new therapies for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Hammes is the Louis S. Wolk Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. He is Director of the University of Rochester Endocrinology Fellowship Program, and was previously the Program Director of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Endocrinology Fellowship Program. He is on the advisory board for the University of Rochester Medical Scientist Training Program as well as the Pathway of Human Disease Graduate Program. He has served on the NIDDK-B study section, which reviews K awards and T32 training grants. He serves on the steering committee for the newly formed Association of Endocrine Chiefs and Directors (AECD). His research focuses on extra-nuclear steroid signaling, reproductive endocrinology, and andrology. His work has been supported by the Department of Defense, NIH, and other agencies.
Dr. Stewart was the former Chief of Endocrinology at the University of Pittsburgh from 1997-2011, and the Director of this T32 from 2000-2011. He is currently a Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Bone disease and the Director of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute at Mount Sinai in NY. Dr. Stewart has received numerous honors, including Councilor of both the Endocrine Society as well as the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), Secretary-Treasurer of the Endocrine Society, and Chair of the Program Committee for the ADA Annual Scientific Sessions. He was also the 2008 recipient of the Endocrine Society’s Gerald Aurbach Award for outstanding scientific achievement. He is a leading authority on human pancreatic beta cell replication and regeneration, and has published more than 230 scientific papers. His work has been supported by the NIH, the JDRF and other agencies.