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Internationally renowned endocrinologist to lead WSU's Hood Diabetes Center

Dr. Paulos Berhanu, an internationally known endocrinologist/diabetologist, will head the Diabetes Program at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center. Dr. Berhanu will assume the position of division chief for diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism within the Department of Internal Medicine as well as director of the Morris Hood Jr. Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

Dr. Berhanu was previously at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where he held the rank of full professor in addition to the position of associate director of the Diabetes Program at the Colorado Prevention Center, in Denver.

Dr. Berhanu is an experienced basic and clinical researcher in diabetes and has published extensively in the field. He has been the recipient of multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the American Diabetes Association. His research interests include insulin receptor trafficking, insulin signal transduction, the mechanism of insulin resistance, and the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Berhanu will maintain a laboratory at Wayne State University to continue his research to understand and fight diabetes and its complications, while also pursuing his major goal of developing a comprehensive clinical diabetes program at the institution.

Dr. Berhanu’s credentials include receiving his M.S. in biological chemistry from the University of Michigan and his M.D. from Loma Linda University, California, in 1973. He served his internship in internal medicine at the University of Southern California Medical Center. He completed his residency in internal medicine and a one-year clinical fellowship in endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes at Loma Linda.

He subsequently moved to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he completed a fellowship training specializing in endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes. Dr. Berhanu is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by the subspecialty board of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes.

Dr. Berhanu has received several scholarships and awards, including the prestigious international Fulbright Scholar Award, which enabled him to establish the first university-based diabetes center in Ethiopia. He has served on numerous national committees, such as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Special Grants Review Committee and Veterans Administration Merit Review Board for Endocrinology. Dr. Berhanu has served as a member of the editorial boards for Endocrinology and American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism. He has been ad hoc reviewer of manuscripts for several journals, including Diabetes, Endocrinology, Metabolism, Hepatology, the Journal Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Berhanu holds memberships in several national and international professional and scientific societies, including the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society and the International Diabetes Federation Dr. Berhanu resides with his wife and two children in West Bloomfield, Mich.

With more than 1,000 medical students, WSU is among the nation’s largest medical schools. Together with its clinical partner the Detroit Medical Center, the school is a leader in patient care and medical research in a number of areas, including cancer, genetics, the neurosciences and women’s and children's health.