Drs. Gavin (left) and LeRoith (right) are welcomed to WSU by Dr. Crissman

On June 7, two of the nation’s top diabetes experts visited the School of Medicine to deliver lectures on the treatment and prevention of diabetes as part of the annual Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

The speakers, Derek LeRoith, MD, PhD, chief of the Molecular and Cellular Physiology Section of the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Endocrinology Branch, and James Gavin, MD, PhD, senior scientific officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and former president of the American Diabetes Association, specifically addressed issues concerning type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. The annual cost related to the disease is $99 billion. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of the 16 million diagnosed cases in the United States. The condition is especially prevalent in African Americans and Latinos, who are nearly twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes as Non-Hispanic Whites.

Dr. LeRoith’s presentation, entitled “Twin Defects: Insulin Resistance and Insulin Deficiency,” focused on the combination of pathophysiological problems that contribute to the onset of type 2 diabetes. While noting that the disease is inherently genetic, Dr. LeRoith stressed that the effects of type 2 diabetes can be improved with proper management of environmental conditions, such as diet and exercise.

“We believe that the defects are genetic; that there are genes that affect the pancreas and there are genes that affect insulin resistance. Over and above that, there are environmental factors that make things worse than they should be,” Dr. LeRoith said. “As you become obese your insulin resistance will get worse. As you lose weight, or if you do some form of exercise, you can improve your insulin resistance and, in many patients, beta cell exhaustion can be reversible with the correct form of management.”

Dr. Gavin also stressed the role that a healthy lifestyle can have on the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in his presentation, “The Future of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention.” He also stressed the need to diagnose and treat type 2 diabetes in its earliest stages.

“One of the things we need to be asking ourselves is, who’s at risk? Because if we know that, and if we act on that, the likelihood is that we will do a better job of screening people who are in the early stage of the disease--at a point when we still have some options,” Dr. Gavin said.

George Grunberger, MD, professor and director of WSU’s Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, and professor of internal medicine, who was instrumental in bringing Drs. LeRoith and Gavin to Detroit, was very pleased with the presentations as well as the audience, which ranged from diabetes educators and clinicians to basic science department chairs.

“I hope that by the end of the talks, the attendees had a better understanding of the incredible burden, both financially and in human terms, that diabetes represents for our society. I hope they also see the amazing new opportunities to address the disease and are compelled to go back to their classrooms, practices and laboratories to do even more.”