Newswise — Two of the nation's foremost researchers in the fields of diabetes and cardiovascular disease are joining The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, expanding its ability to find better treatments and potentially a cure for diabetes and its complications, such as heart attack and stroke.
Dr. Willa Hsueh, from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, and Dr. John D. Baxter, from the University of California, San Francisco, will bring their diabetes and cardiovascular research expertise and their teams to the research institute and The Methodist Hospital's Department of Medicine. Hsueh will serve as director of the diabetes research program, and Baxter will serve as co-director and director of the genomic medicine program.
Hsueh is considered an international expert in diabetes and heart disease, with her group being the first to decipher mechanisms by which current diabetes medications protect against atherosclerosis. She also demonstrated that the coronary arteries are damaged in insulin-resistant patients who have no traditional risk for heart disease.
Hsueh comes to Methodist from UCLA School of Medicine, where she was professor of medicine and chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and hypertension. Hsueh was the director of the NIH-sponsored Diabetes and Endocrine Research Center (DERC) at UCLA and UC-San Diego. She is the author of more than 200 publications in medical literature, is internationally known for her work relating diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and has received numerous awards for her scientific efforts.
She received her medical degree cum laude from Ohio State University and performed postgraduate training in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was a clinical fellow in endocrinology at Johns Hopkins and a research fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Baxter comes to Methodist from the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF), along with his longstanding collaborator, Dr. Paul Webb. Baxter was a professor of medicine and director of the metabolic research unit and chief of the division of endocrinology at the UCSF Parnassus and Mt. Zion campuses. He also founded the now highly successful Diabetes Center at UCSF. Baxter was the founder or the major shareholder of three companies involved in pharmaceuticals, a medical device company and a company providing electronic medical records to the long term care industry. Prominent among these is Scios, Inc., now a division of Johnson & Johnson.
Baxter, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, is a pioneer in genetic engineering and hormone action. His group cloned several of the first classes of genes and demonstrated the power of recombinant DNA technology for developing treatments for diseases, including the first cloning of the growth hormone gene and the first synthesis of growth hormone. Baxter, who received his medical degree cum laude from Yale University, has made major contributions to understanding mechanisms of action of hormones, especially of nuclear receptors that are involved in most diseases. Webb and Baxter recently were recognized for their efforts in the development of compounds to treat obesity, atherosclerosis and diabetes.
Baxter has received numerous awards, including the Koch Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Endocrine Society and the Outstanding Investigator Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"The addition of these internationally acclaimed physician researchers and their respective teams will be an outstanding addition to Methodist," said Dr. Michael Lieberman, director of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute. "They are a perfect fit because of their experience in translational and clinical research, which is the focus of the research institute."
"While the South has a high population of people with diabetes, the metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis, there is no truly comprehensive diabetes research program in the entire south central region," Lieberman said. "These are two of the top diabetes, atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome research teams in the world. Their work will be of great value to the people in Houston, the Texas Medical Center, across the region and internationally. Diabetes is the fastest growing disease in America today."
Hsueh will start at TMH February 15, 2008, and Baxter will start January 3, 2008.For more information on The Methodist Hospital or the Research Institute, see http://www.methodisthealth.com and http://www.methodistresearch.com.
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