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Endocrinology

Research

Research activities cover the entire spectrum of pediatric endocrinology conditions: disorders of carbohydrate and mineral metabolism; Type 1 and 2 Diabetes; growth, puberty, the thyroid, and disorders of bone and mineral metabolism. Our faculty investigators are renowned in their clinical and basic research. This ensures that research findings translate more quickly to improved patient care and outcomes.

Dr. William Tamborlane studies diabetes and metabolism in children. He directs the Yale Center in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (DCCT/EDIC) Study. Dr. Tamborlane's ongoing project regarding the prevention of hypoglycemia is funded within The Yale Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center grant for the study of hypoglycemia. Dr. Tamborlane holds two training grants in pediatric endocrinology/diabetes from the NIH/NIDDK. He is Deputy Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation that is transforming the support that is provided for clinical research across the entire medical center campus. In April 2006 he received the prestigious Mary Tyler Moore and S. Robert Levine Excellence in Clinical Research Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C..

Dr. Sonia Caprio researches the pathophysiology of metabolic defects of juvenile obesity, including metabolic predictors and markers of childhood obesity. Her research includes the pathophysiology of Type 2 Diabetes in youth, including uncovering the metabolic phenotype of pre-diabetes in youth. She is the Principle Investigator of an NIH-funded multicenter study of the treatment of T2DM in youth.

Dr. Thomas Carpenter investigates disorders of mineral metabolism in children, including calcium, phosphorus, and Vitamin D (nutritional rickets). Dr. Carpenter is director of the Physiology Core of the NIH-supported Yale Core Center for Musculoskeletal Diseases, which facilitates basic research in the bone. Dr. Carpenter serves on a committee which functions in concert with the Human Investigation Committee and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation to insure the highest quality approach to clinical research and optimum measures of safety in pediatric research.

Dr. Myron Genel is actively engaged in directing public policy relating to health care for children and to clinical research. Dr. Genel received the 2004 Joseph W. St. Geme Leadership Award, one of the highest honors in academic pediatrics, primarily for two decades' leadership of the Public Policy Council of the American Pediatric Society, Society for Pediatric Research and Association of American Pediatric Department Chairs, which he continues to direct. Previously he was the recipient of the Abraham Jacobi Memorial Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association and was named a Distinguished Service Member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in 2005. He served as chair of the American Medical Association's Section on Medical Schools and its Council on Scientific Affairs, as a member of the Institute of Medicine's Clinical Research Roundtable and is president-elect of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Dr. Genel is a member of the National Children's Study Federal Advisory Committee, and in June 2006 was appointed to a three-year term on the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP). He has been a member of the Connecticut Stem Cell Coalition for four years serves as a member of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee and is a member of the Planning Committee for StemCONN 07, an international symposium on stem cell research that was held in March 2007. In January 2006 he was elected as vice president/president-elect of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) and will assume the presidency in 2008.

Dr. Genel is interested in disorders of sexual differentiation and gender verification procedures. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission's Working Group on Transsexual Athletes which drafted criteria, later approved by the IOC, which permits transsexual athletes to compete in international athletic competition. A report, co-authored with IOC Medical Commission chair, Arne Ljungqvist, appears in the December 2005 Medicine and Sport special issue of The Lancet.

Dr. Scott A. Rivkees' laboratory has a longstanding interest in fundamental issues that are pertinent to children. These areas of interest include the development of circadian rhythms, heart formation, and brain development. Particularly he is studying the role of A1-adenosine receptor action in the developing heart and hippocampus, and in hypoglycemic brain injury.
Learn more about the Rivkees' laboratory.

Dr. Stuart Weinzimer's research focuses on the application of new technologies in the treatment of diabetes. As part of his collaborations within the Diabetes Research in Children Network (DirecNet) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Artificial Pancreas Project, he has been studying the safety, accuracy, and effectiveness of continuous glucose sensors to improve diabetes therapy, as well as investigating basic physiological questions of hypoglycemia counter-regulation. He has recently initiated a series of studies to test a fully-automated "closed loop" artificial pancreas under resting and exercise conditions. His research team has also been characterizing the variations in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of insulin pump therapy, with the goals of improving current diabetes treatment regimens and improving artificial pancreas control algorithms.

Dr. Tania Burgert studies cardiovascular risk factors in obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. Dr. Burgert's main research involvement is in an investigator initiated placebo-controlled double blind drug intervention trial. This study incorporates many of the techniques that are important to assessing metabolism in obesity such as euglycemic clamp techniques, NMR spectroscopy, and techniques in exercise physiology. With a third year resident, she is assessing if the state of glucose tolerance as defined by OGTT is representative of real life glucose challenges as encountered by adolescents in their home environment. Glucose excursions at home will be measured by continuous subcutaneous glucose monitoring. The subjects will also have a direct assessment of their vascular health. To this end, Dr. Burgert has learned the non-invasive technique of peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT) and therefore has started to evaluate endothelial dysfunction through assessing flow mediated vascular wall dilation in Pediatric subjects. She has also initiated a collaboration with adult cardiology to further assess vascular health through measurements of intima media thickness.