Distinguished Lecturers: Evan Dale Abel and James Ankrum

When

April 14, 2017    
1:10 pm - 2:00 pm

Where

3043 ECpE Building Addition
Coover Hall, Ames, Iowa, 50011

Event Type

Evan Dale Abel

James Ankrum

Two speakers, Dr. Evan Dale Abel and Dr. James Ankrum, will give a joint presentation.

Speakers: Evan Dale Abel, Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Director of Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center; James Ankrum, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Member of Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center

Title: The Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa – Leveraging Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Catalyze Discovery

Abstract: Launched in 2012, the mission of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC) at the University of Iowa is to advance knowledge of the pathophysiology of diabetes and its complications through cutting edge research, delineating new and effective strategies to reduce the impact of this disease. The FOEDRC is a highly interdisciplinary program, whose 100 faculty represent 7 separate colleges and 26 departments from across the University, unified by their involvement in diabetes research. The FOEDRC provides a physical, intellectual, and financial infrastructure to support interdisciplinary basic, translational, and clinical diabetes research by partnering with various campus-wide departments, programs, and initiatives. The presentation will provide an overview of the research programs in place at the FOEDRC and will provide specific examples of collaborations between investigators with a biological and/or an engineering background.

Bio: Evan Dale Abel, MD, Ph.D., is the Chair and DEO of the department of Internal Medicine, Director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC), Director of the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa and Head of the Interdisciplinary Diabetes Clinic at Iowa River Landing/UIHC. He is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and currently holds the John B Stokes III Chair in Diabetes Research. Prior to moving to the University of Iowa, Dr. Abel was the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and Senior Investigator in the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Utah where he held the H.A. and Edna Benning, Presidential Endowed Chair in Diabetes and Endocrinology. He received his medical degree with Distinction from the University of the West Indies –U.W.I. (first in the history of the U.W.I.) then went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he obtained his D.Phil (Ph.D.) under the mentorship of Professor John Ledingham in the Nuffield Department of Medicine. After his doctoral studies he completed internal medicine residency training at Northwestern University in Chicago where he served as Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Abel was then recruited to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as an endocrinology fellow in the Harvard Medical School Longwood Area Endocrinology Program. He served with distinction and received while there, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Minority Faculty Development Fellowship. He subsequently remained on the faculty of Harvard and became the co-director of the Endocrinology Fellowship Program at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was recruited to the University of Utah in 2000 initially as an Assistant Professor and was promoted within 3 years to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Medicine and Division of Endocrinology Metabolism and Diabetes at the University of Utah School of Medicine. In 2007, he was appointed to Chief of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and promoted to Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry in 2008. He established and oversaw the Metabolism Interest Group (MIG) at the University of Utah, which was awarded a T32 training grant by the NIDDK. By the time of his departure, the MIG had grown to an interdisciplinary program in metabolism with over 20 faculty members who had secured >$15M annually in extramural research support.

James Ankrum, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He is also Researcher at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa, a Master of Philosophy in Engineering Design from the University of Cambridge and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology. His current research interests include cell-based therapies, microenvironmental control of cell phenotype and pancreatic beta cell therapy; he also specializes in mesenchymal stem cells, drug delivery and biomimicry.

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