Division Profile: Internal Medicine – Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism (DEM)
Chief: Cyrus Desouza, M.D.
Administrator: Grace Harada Lord, MPA
Personnel:
Faculty: 13 (10 M.D., 3 Ph.D.)
Fellows: 6
PAs: 3
Staff: 16
1) Currently recruiting NIH clinical research studies
a. GRADE: NIH national study to determine the best treatment combinations for Type 2 diabetes
b. D2D: NIH national study to determine if vitamin D can slow the progression of pre-diabetes to Type 2 diabetes
2) Clinical services
a. General diabetes and endocrinology care — typical wait time for non-urgent new patient appointments less than three weeks
b. New telemedicine services to Hastings with plans to expand in Nebraska & Iowa
c. New faculty: Sarah Gillis, MD – Bariatric Endocrinology
d. Specialty diabetes and endocrinology care:
- Young adult clinic (transition from pediatric endocrinology)
- Care of diabetes and endocrine problems during pregnancy
- Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules
- Thyroid cancer
- Diabetes and endocrine care of solid organ transplant patients, including pancreas and auto-islet transplant
- Short gut clinic
- Cystic fibrosis
3) Educational highlights
a. DEM participates in the education & training of:
- Medical students
- PA students
- Internal medicine residents
- Family medicine residents
- Visiting Chinese medical students
- Visiting Chinese endocrine faculty from Shanghai
- GOODLIFE Clinic volunteers (student-run care of underserved diabetes)
- Additional teaching to APRN students and hospital critical care nursing staff
b. Top Teachers in Internal Medicine (2012):
- Brian Boerner, M.D.
- Andjela Drincic, M.D.
- Whitney Goldner, M.D.
- Lynn Mack, M.D.
- Amy Neumeister, M.D.
c. Fellowship program offers two tracks:
1) Traditional two-year clinical program
2) Three-year research program
4) Research areas
The division conducts basic science, translational and clinical research at both UNMC and the Omaha Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Funding sources include the NIH and VA.
- Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness Study (GRADE)
- Vitamin D and Type 2 diabetes (D2d)
- Anti-inflammatories in the treatment of diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and endothelial progenitor cells
- Post-transplant diabetes and immune suppressants
- Retinoic acid treatment of obesity-related diabetes
- Insulin metabolism and the etiology of Type 2 diabetes
- Antifibrotic action of relaxin
- Thyroid cancer