Welcome to the Tulane Diabetes Research Program website. The incidence of both type 1 and 2 diabetes rises in the United States and throughout the world. Diabetes has been called by the Center for Diseases Control as a major epidemic of our times. Diabetes is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure and amputations. The number of people that currently die from diabetes is more than double the toll from breast and prostate cancer combined.Read More
The vast morbidity and mortality exacted by the disease cause considerable loss of quality of life and are a major burden to the health care system and society. The economic cost of diabetes in the U.S. in 2012 has risen to $245 billion, a 41 percent increase over a five year period. Today the care for people with diabetes accounts for more than 1 in 5 health care dollars. The root of diabetes includes soaring rates of obesity, an aging population, and sedentary lifestyles, a growth of minority populations, and inadequate treatment as main reasons. Intensive basic and clinical research are needed to understand the causes of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and curtail this 21st century epidemic. Founded in 2013, the Tulane Diabetes Research Program serves as an intellectual driver and home for diabetes related research programs at Tulane University through:
- Fostering fundamental research on the molecular bases and therapeutic avenues for obesity, diabetes, and their complications.
- Leadership or participation in multicenter NIH-funded clinical trials of diabetes treatment.
- Fostering interactions between clinical and basic research scientists studying diabetes and its complications.
- Organizing workshops of ongoing research to foster local collaborations and help accelerate research discoveries.
- Organizing seminar series related to diabetes with national and international speakers that will share knowledge into the mechanisms of diabetes and related diseases.
- Centralizing cores facilities to facilitate basic and clinical research in diabetes.
Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, MD, PhD
Director, Tulane Diabetes Research Program
