Diabetes Research at City of Hope: Inspiring Legacy, Bold Vision
City of Hope is home to Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute — one of the world's foremost scientific organizations dedicated to investigating the biology of diabetes and its treatment. Our scientists, including longtime leader and biotechnology pioneer Arthur Riggs, Ph.D., who served as the Samuel Rahbar Chair in Diabetes & Drug Discovery, were responsible for discovering insulin’s role in processing sugar, identifying a marker for glucose control in the blood and creating the technology that gave the world synthetic human insulin.
The Riggs Institute continues that legacy today under its recently appointed director, Debbie C. Thurmond, Ph.D., the Ruth B. & Robert K. Lanman Chair in Gene Regulation & Drug Discovery Research, with exciting developments in cell transplantation, gene regulation, immune tolerance and a new understanding of diabetes as a complex, multifaceted disease.
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Beyond Type 1 co-founder Sam Talbot (moderator) is joined by an all-star panel of diabetes researchers, advocates and journalists, including City of Hope diabetes researcher Debbie Thurmond, Ph.D., journalist Amy Tenderich, and JDRF Los Angeles Chapter board member Rae Sanchini Tobey. The group discusses merging therapies, promising treatments and the future of diabetes medicine.
Our world-renowned diabetes research center is named the Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Institute in honor of our longtime director and research pioneer.
Riggs’ scientific legacy includes developing the technology that led to the creation of the first synthetic human insulin – a breakthrough that enabled mass production of insulin for people with diabetes. Today, synthetic insulin saves the lives of hundreds of millions of people every day.
Director, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute
Ruth B. & Robert K. Lanman Chair in Gene Regulation & Drug Discovery Research
Samuel Rahbar Chair in Diabetes & Drug Discovery
Emeritus Director, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute
Emeritus Director, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
National Business Products Industry Professor in Diabetes Research
Associate Director, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute
Arthur D. Riggs Distinguished Chair in Diabetes & Metabolism Research
Alfred E. Mann Family Foundation Chair in Diabetes and Cancer Metabolism
Chair, Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism
