The diabetes scientists at City of Hope have made several landmark contributions to the field of diabetes research and care over the years. In the 1940s, the late Dr. Rachmiel Levine described the role of insulin in mediating glucose entry into the cell and discovered that the pathophysiological basis for type 2 diabetes was related to a defect in this glucose transport mechanism, a condition termed "insulin resistance." In the late 1960s, Dr. Samuel Rahbar, recognized the utility of hemoglobin-A1c measurement as a marker for blood glucose control in the diabetic individual. In 1978, Drs. Arthur Riggs and Keiichi Itakura, genetically engineered bacteria to produce unlimited quantities of synthetic human insulin (now called Humulin®).
Landmark Achievements
Today, leading edge research continues at COH's Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Diabetes and Genetic Research Center, where a group of physicians and scientists are exploring a variety of new investigation and treatment approaches.
The inauguration of the four-level, 41,000 square foot, Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Diabetes and Genetic Research Center in June 1997, marked the start of another era in clinical and investigative diabetes at City of Hope National Medical Center. Since then, the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism has evolved significantly in basic science research, clinical investigations and clinical care arenas. Most notably, the Gonda Diabetes Center has recently established the NIH-funded Southern California Islet Cell Resources (SC-ICR) Center, an islet isolation and distribution facility program to support clinical transplantation and basic science research throughout Southern California and beyond. The department is currently leading a multi-center islet transplantation trial among ten respected academic institutions in Southern California. Other significant advances are being made in the areas of islet generation, immune tolerance induction, molecular mechanisms of diabetes complications, and new treatments for diabetes complications, endocrine cancers and supportive care for patients with non-endocrine tumors.
Thus, physicians and researchers in the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism are working hard to continue the legacy of their predecessors by exploring a variety of new basic science and treatment approaches that could potentially lead to a cure for diabetes, and have far reaching implications in the treatment of many other diseases.
| 1949 |
Discovery of Metabolic Effects of Insulin |
| 1968 |
Identifying the role of Hg-A1c in Diabetes Management |
| 1971 |
Establishment of the Department of Diabetes |
| 1978 |
First Engineering of Human Insulin in the laboratory |
| 1982 |
Isolation of specific cell proteins that join with insulin and mediate Its metabolic effects |
| Late 1980's |
Enhancement of the Clinical Diabetes Care Program |
| 1991 |
Establishment of the Diabetes Education Program |
| 1992 |
Establishment of the Diabetes & Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Program |
| 1993 |
First Annual Community Diabetes Symposium |
| 1994 |
Establishment of Male Sexual Medicine Program |
| 1997 |
Inauguration of Gonda Diabetes and Genetic Research Center |
| 2000 |
First Annual International Levine Symposium on Diabetes and Obesity Research |
| 2001 |
Establishment of the Southern California Islet Consortium |
| 2004 |
First Islet Cell Transplantation at City of Hope |