Simon J. Fisher, MD, PhD, and Barbara Nikolajczyk, PhD, have recently been awarded a total of $778,158 in direct and indirect support from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This grant will support their five-year project 鈥淒iabetes and ObesitY research training in kENtucky,鈥 also known as DOYEN. The word doyen means 鈥渒nowledgeable expert,鈥 a play on words stemming from Dr. Fisher and Dr. Nikolajczyk鈥檚 goal to train predoctoral students to become knowledgeable experts in field of diabetes and obesity research.
The DOYEN program represents a multidisciplinary, team-based approach involving multiple principal investigators to mentor predoctoral trainees in fundamental aspects of diabetes and obesity research, translational science of diabetes, and advancement of therapeutics for diabetes. DOYEN will prepare these trainees to become independent investigators who fully participate in multidisciplinary diabetes research teams that tackle the challenges associated with the disproportionately high rates of diabetes and obesity in Kentucky.
This project is part of a larger push for diabetes research in the College of Medicine and at the University as a whole. DOYEN hopes to make bigger contributions for the health communities touched by the University and to increase Internal Medicine鈥檚 impact on research.
As seasoned researchers, both Dr. Nikolajczyk and Dr. Fisher are excited to not only conduct and continue their own projects but also set the table for the next generation of young researchers. The pre-doctoral students guided through this project will be supported by the experienced mentorship team the DOYEN program has built.
On top of this, the department recently hired two of the first Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center faculty, and this initiative will help identify and support the next generation of up-and-coming future research faculty, which is critical to fully achieve Dr. Nikolajczyk and Dr. Fisher鈥檚 goals. With long-standing support from the Barnstable Brown family, their investment in recruiting world-renowned diabetes research scientists to the University of Kentucky was a key factor in building a cadre of research mentors necessary to be awarded this prestigious grant.
Diabetes is one of the most endemic diseases afflicting the globe, especially in Kentucky. Because it is a persistent disease that must be managed day-to-day, people often don鈥檛 think of the impacts that it has on personal, social, and economic lives. Yet, we all know someone who has this condition, and we see how it impacts their lives. Diabetes is also directly responsible for or contributes to much ill health and suffering in the state of Kentucky and the wider world, and yet there is a great deal about this condition that is still unknown.
The DOYEN program explores ways to more effectively treat this disease (and its different complications), thus making it easier for people with diabetes to manage their condition in efficient and understandable ways. DOYEN also deepens the medical community鈥檚 understanding of how the disease works, and how we can identify and treat it sooner, perhaps preventing or delaying it, and potentially how we might one day be able to 鈥渃ure鈥 it.
At its heart, DOYEN is focused on how it can help people live longer, better, healthier lives.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32DK138894. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.