13 May DRC Director's Report - May 2019 May 13, 2019 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center 0 E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, was elected as the president-elect of the Endocrine Society in October of 2017. At the annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society in New Orleans, Dr. Abel was sworn in as the Endocrine Society’s newest president. His one year presidential term began on March 20, 2019. Dr. Abel is honored and humbled to serve as the first president of the Endocrine Society from the University of Iowa. With greater than 18,000 active members, the 100-year-old Endocrine Society is the largest global membership organization representing professionals from the field of endocrinology. Physicians, scientists, researchers, and educators comprise the majority of the Society’s membership, who come from 122 countries, with 40 percent located outside the United States. While in office, Dr. Abel will continue implementation of the four key tenets of the strategic plan. Dr. Abel states, our focus is on building community and leadership; serving as a trusted advisor and advocate; accelerating scientific and clinical innovation; and championing the professional. Along with implementing these goals, we will be considering the governance task force’s recommendations for how best to align the Society’s governance with the strategic plan. In addition, Dr. Abel is dedicated to doing the right thing by keeping the organization’s focus on research. Research—both clinical and, importantly, basic science research—represent an important underpinning of the Endocrine Society, which needs to continue to remain robust and strong. This will nurture an environment that fosters productive collaboration and interactions between these groups, which is essential to the core identity of endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is a leading organization in the world dedicated to endocrine and diabetes education and research. It is indeed an honor and privilege to follow all of the inspiring past presidents and to have the opportunity to work with the Society’s dedicated members and staff as we endeavor to improve the health of individuals around the globe with endocrine disorders, of which diabetes is the most prevalent. As the president-elect of the Endocrine Society, I promise to remain wholeheartedly dedicated to finding a cure. Related Articles DRC Director's Report - March 2019 Brian T. O’Neill, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology in the Department of Internal Medicine and member of the FOEDRC recently published in the journal Diabetes the discovery that FoxO proteins, which are transcription factors that regulate DNA, are the critical regulators of diabetes-related muscle atrophy. DRC Director's Report - April 2019 In a recent study done by Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and member of the FOEDRC, his research team found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish/shellfish, was associated with a higher risk of death from all causes and cardiovascular disease in women in the United States. Women with at least one serving per week of fried chicken had a 13% higher risk of death from all causes, and a 12% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease, when compared with women with no consumption of fried chicken. DRC Director's Report - January 2019 The new year is always a time to look back and reflect on the many achievements of the prior year. I have been pleased that the Fraternal Order of Eagles has committed continued support to a program that will be overseen by the FOEDRC that seeks to develop new treatments for diabetes and its complications and to bring them ultimately to market. The Bridge to the cure program represents an innovative collaboration and we are excited by what this new year will bring. For this reason, I have chosen to write about one example from a FOEDRC member that recently demonstrated the ability of the compound nicotinamide riboside to restore nerve damage from chemotherapy. We believe that this same mechanism could lead to improved nerve function in people with diabetes. I hope that you will enjoy reading about this exciting advance below. DRC Director's Report - February 2019 The Department of Defense office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs has awarded DRC member, Ethan Anderson, Associate Professor College of Pharmacy, funding as part of its Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) Discovery Award competition. The project is: Exploiting the Paracrine-Like Effect of Prohibitin-1 to Treat Septic Cardiomyopathy. The grant will provide $310,000 in total support over a 2-year period. DRC Director's Report - October 2019 The current epidemic of obesity is a major contributing factor in the rising rate of type 2 diabetes. Recent work from the laboratory of Kamal Rahmouni, PhD, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC), uncovered a novel and important role for a protein complex called the BBSome in the function of key nerve cells called neurons in small a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus that controls food intake, body’s fat and glucose metabolism. DRC Director's Report - December 2018 As we come to the end of another successful year for the FOEDRC, I want to thank the FOE and my colleagues within the Diabetes Research Center for continuing to push the research boundaries to improve the lives of many who suffer from diabetes. On a personal note, I received a number of honors for my work this year including being asked to deliver the Presidential Lecture of the University of Iowa, receiving Fraternal Order of Eagles Humanitarian Award and the 2018 History Makers Award - the African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI). My receipt of this recognition is really a recognition of what you do and I consider myself very fortunate to lead such an outstanding organization. To close out the year I thought you might be interested in reading about some ways that our researchers are turning “fun and games” into a benefit for our patients with diabetes. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.