John Gerich, MD, University of Rochester, USA

Dr. John Gerich is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Research Center at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He is an expert in the physiology of diabetes and glucose metabolism. During his career Dr. Gerich has trained 50 research fellows and is the author of over 500 major articles. He has been an important player in the design and implementation of many fundamental clinical trials, including the DCCT. Dr. Gerich has made fundamental contributions in the understanding of glucose disposal and insulin resistance. He is an expert in the physiology of insulin effects and has been able to bridge his fundamental research into direct applications to new drugs for the treatment of type II diabetes.

 

 

Paul Zimmet, AO, MD, PhD, International Diabetes Institute and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Professor Paul Zimmet is Professor/Director of the International Diabetes Institute and Professor of Diabetes, Monash University. His current research involves: Epidemiological, environmental and molecular biological components in the causation of Type 2 diabetes, Environmental factors in the etiology of, the early detection and ultimate prevention of Type 1 diabetes, the role of the neuro-peptides in the genesis of obesity, the Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 diabetes combining research in animal models with high prevalence human populations. The research of Zimmet and his team in Pacific and Indian Ocean populations (Micronesians, Polynesians and Melanesians and migrant Asian Indians, Chinese and Creoles) have provided new insights into the genetic contribution of Type 2 diabetes as well as the role of obesity, physical activity, nutrition and socio-cultural change in the aetiology of this disorder. Apart from the major interest in diabetes epidemiology, he and his group have also made important contributions in the area of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes causation and detection with their studies on the role of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). Zimmet and his collaborators have contributed substantially to the area of prediction of Type 1 diabetes developing tests for antibodies to GAD and ICA 12. They have delineated and defined the condition of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). Recently they have reported that a food toxin produced in infected vegetables may cause beta-cell damage and Type 1 diabetes in genetically susceptible subjects.