madman
Super Moderator
Dr. Dandona!
*Time doesn’t slow down Dandona. At age eighty, he still conducts two full clinics a week, where he and his fellows see twenty-five to thirty patients. How does he do it? That’s the question we want to ask.
DR. PARESH DANDONA, MD, PHD, is one of the world’s leading experts in the treatment of endocrine disorders, especially diabetes, obesity, and vascular disease. His approach to medicine was shaped by advice his father gave to him many years ago.
"When I was in boarding school in India, my father told me ‘Never be shy of asking any question, because if you don’t know the answer, chances are others don’t know it either. So always ask and get a proper answer,’" Dandona shares. "That tendency only developed and grew. My career has provided me a great opportunity to ask questions, because medicine still has so many things that need to be discovered."
As a University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor of Medicine and founder of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Center of Western New York, Dandona is behind significant breakthroughs in endocrinology and beyond. He led a groundbreaking study to treat newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients with semaglutide (trade names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus), which drastically reduces or even eliminates need for injected insulin.
"This was an adventurous study because, until now, it has been believed that Type 1 diabetics do not have any insulin of their own," explains Dandona. "But we now know that at the time of diagnosis, about fifty percent of their insulin reserves is still around."
Dandona and his team hypothesized that semaglutide, which works through stimulation of insulin secretion from the beta cell, could potentially replace mealtime insulin administration. The findings ultimately improved glycemic control, reduced the HbA1c, and eliminated potentially dangerous swings in blood sugar and hypoglycemia.
"The life of the Type 1 diabetic is hell," Dandona says. "Taking five to six shots a day is taxing. But when we substitute semaglutide, those issues disappear. The quality of life improves."
Instead of merely accepting the assumption, Dandona always asks why and that makes all the difference. "There’s always been novel things happening with my team, and we are always trying to achieve something new rather than repeating other people’s work, which is what most of the research today is," he says. His team has published more papers than anyone else in the Department of Medicine, about 450 papers with fundamental findings.
"Our standards of care are probably the finest in the world," Dandona says "Since 1997, we have not had any case of major amputation in our patients. We are the only center in the world that can claim that. Since 2001, we have not had end stage kidney failure or dialysis if they come to us with reasonable kidney function."
Dandona was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Androgen Society for his breadth of research on how testosterone deficiency contributes to reduced response of glucose to insulin, increased insulin resistance, and potential contribution to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. This research, over two decades in the making, also showed that testosterone levels are fifty percent lower in obese men, which helped determine that a testosterone replacement improves not only sexual function but also metabolic issues.
Time doesn’t slow down Dandona. At age eighty, he still conducts two full clinics a week, where he and his fellows see twenty-five to thirty patients. How does he do it? That’s the question we want to ask.
*Time doesn’t slow down Dandona. At age eighty, he still conducts two full clinics a week, where he and his fellows see twenty-five to thirty patients. How does he do it? That’s the question we want to ask.
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DR. PARESH DANDONA, MD, PHD, is one of the world’s leading experts in the treatment of endocrine disorders, especially diabetes, obesity, and vascular disease. His approach to medicine was shaped by advice his father gave to him many years ago.
"When I was in boarding school in India, my father told me ‘Never be shy of asking any question, because if you don’t know the answer, chances are others don’t know it either. So always ask and get a proper answer,’" Dandona shares. "That tendency only developed and grew. My career has provided me a great opportunity to ask questions, because medicine still has so many things that need to be discovered."
As a University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor of Medicine and founder of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Center of Western New York, Dandona is behind significant breakthroughs in endocrinology and beyond. He led a groundbreaking study to treat newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients with semaglutide (trade names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus), which drastically reduces or even eliminates need for injected insulin.
"This was an adventurous study because, until now, it has been believed that Type 1 diabetics do not have any insulin of their own," explains Dandona. "But we now know that at the time of diagnosis, about fifty percent of their insulin reserves is still around."
Dandona and his team hypothesized that semaglutide, which works through stimulation of insulin secretion from the beta cell, could potentially replace mealtime insulin administration. The findings ultimately improved glycemic control, reduced the HbA1c, and eliminated potentially dangerous swings in blood sugar and hypoglycemia.
"The life of the Type 1 diabetic is hell," Dandona says. "Taking five to six shots a day is taxing. But when we substitute semaglutide, those issues disappear. The quality of life improves."
Instead of merely accepting the assumption, Dandona always asks why and that makes all the difference. "There’s always been novel things happening with my team, and we are always trying to achieve something new rather than repeating other people’s work, which is what most of the research today is," he says. His team has published more papers than anyone else in the Department of Medicine, about 450 papers with fundamental findings.
"Our standards of care are probably the finest in the world," Dandona says "Since 1997, we have not had any case of major amputation in our patients. We are the only center in the world that can claim that. Since 2001, we have not had end stage kidney failure or dialysis if they come to us with reasonable kidney function."
Dandona was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Androgen Society for his breadth of research on how testosterone deficiency contributes to reduced response of glucose to insulin, increased insulin resistance, and potential contribution to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. This research, over two decades in the making, also showed that testosterone levels are fifty percent lower in obese men, which helped determine that a testosterone replacement improves not only sexual function but also metabolic issues.
Time doesn’t slow down Dandona. At age eighty, he still conducts two full clinics a week, where he and his fellows see twenty-five to thirty patients. How does he do it? That’s the question we want to ask.
