Meredith Hawkins, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA

Meredith Hawkins is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her current research interests include the regulation of hepatic glucose production by hyperglycemia per se in type 2 diabetes mellitus, and the effects of nutrient excess on metabolic features of the insulin resistance syndrome. Challenging a generally ‘insulin-centric’ view of hepatic glucose metabolism, Dr. Hawkins has highlighted the importance of defective ‘glucose effectiveness’ to suppress glucose production in diabetes mellitus. Significantly, she proved the efficacy of several therapeutic modalities to restore this regulation in humans with diabetes: activating hepatic glucokinase, normalizing circulating fatty acid levels, and inhibiting gluconeogenesis. More recently, Dr. Hawkins has made novel and important observations about the role of fatty acids in systemic inflammation, through effects on adipose tissue macrophages. Her work suggests that adipocyte-derived factors “prime” adipose macrophages to respond to nutritional regulation. Additionally, Dr. Hawkins has a tremendous interest in the burgeoning epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the developing world.

 

 

Patricia Iozzo, MD, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy, and University of Turku, Finland

Patricia Iozzo is Senior Investigator at the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, Italy, and Coordinator of the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Imaging in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the University of Turku in Finland. Her focus is the use of molecular imaging – in particular Positron Emission Tomography - to characterize organ-specific metabolism, cross-talk, and response to treatment in relation to diabetes or metabolic risk. She has identified abnormalities in myocardial metabolism and perfusion in type 2 diabetes, and is testing their clinical significance by pharmacological intervention. Most recent work has been dedicated to validate the non-invasive assessment of hepatic glucose and fatty acid metabolism in vivo, and explore the adipose-liver and brain-liver interactions, and the pathogenesis and relevance of ectopic fat accumulation.