Founder, Program Director, and Webmaster

I am a 2024 graduate of University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology on the pre-med track as I aspire to be a physician-scientist. Recalling the memorable experience of my summer research internship, I was looking forward to continuing the experience during my junior year of high school summer until the program was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This was the basis for our creation of the virtual program with a desire to give opportunities for you to experience biomedical research. With more than 500 million adults living with diabetes throughout the world, I want to help you learn about its impact on our health and what we can do to prevent this epidemic disease. I also want to offer insights into exciting careers in medicine and science, hoping to inspire you to embark on a journey to become a physician and scientist. Outside of my academic interests, I have been an avid violinist for the past 18 years and love the outdoors as I enjoy surfing, swimming, skiing, and running. I am pursuing my passion for medicine by volunteering at local hospitals, shadowing physicians, and conducting research at Harvard Medical School. I hope that our program can create a meaningful experience for you by providing a glimpse into the world of diabetes research and academic medicine, growing your passion for science and medicine. Welcome to Diabetes Virtual Camp!

Associate Director and Director of Outreach

I am a 2023 graduate of Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology on a pre-med track. I aspire to be a physician because I love caring for people. Ever since I was young, I always enjoyed math and science, and I knew from early on that medicine was the ideal career for me. My goal is to become a pediatrician because I love working with children. I had a wonderful experience working in the Pediatric Primary Care Unit and Pediatric Specialties Unit at UMass Medical School. It was an experience that helped me visualize what my everyday life will be like in the future, and I’m so excited about what lies ahead. I also had an amazing experience in my first research opportunity at Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and I’m currently working in a pediatric clinic. Outside of school and work, I love music, having played violin all my life, and enjoy performing in front of an audience at solo recitals and string ensemble concerts. I hope that our program can build knowledge and increase awareness about the importance of diabetes for you to contextualize the pressing issues of our society. Welcome to Diabetes Virtual Camp!

Advisor

I am a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. I am also a Director of the Metabolic Disease Research Center and a former Director of the National Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at UMass. As a leading expert in metabolic diseases, I have studied type 2 diabetes and obesity for over 30 years and made a significant contribution to the field with 192 peer-reviewed publications, mostly in high-impact scientific journals such as Science, Nature, and Cell Metabolism, receiving more than 40,000 citations. As an NIH-funded investigator since 2001, my research investigates the molecular link between inflammation and insulin resistance as underlying mechanisms of obesity-driven metabolic diseases. Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, my translational research investigates the molecular mechanism of fatty liver disease, studying the role of macrophages in diet-induced inflammation and insulin resistance in the liver and the progression of fatty liver to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Our recent research, published in Nature Communications, unveils a new and exciting role of IFNgamma-IL12 axis in MASH (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49633-y). Funded by the National Institute on Aging, my translational research also investigates a biological connection between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes, studying the role of peripheral metabolism on neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. After graduating from the University of California Irvine and the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, my academic career began as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Yale University School of Medicine in 2002. Then, I became an Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the Penn State College of Medicine in 2005 and a Full Professor with Tenure at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in 2008. I am currently a member of the MD/PhD Admissions Committee at UMass Chan Medical School, and I have more than 20 years of experience serving on the medical school admissions committee with my previous tenure at Yale and Penn State. My scientific expertise is globally acknowledged as an Adjunct Professor at Seoul National University, an Adjunct Investigator at Harvard Medical School, a Global Fellow of Ewha Womans University, and a Chair of NIH and American Heart Association Grant Review Committees while serving on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of Hong Kong, the External Advisory Committee of Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University Diabetes Center, and Scientific Advisory Boards of several pharmaceutical companies. Over the years, I have taught numerous courses for undergraduate, graduate, medical, nursing, and pharmacy students while mentoring over 150 MD/PhD students, research interns, postdocs, clinical fellows, junior faculty, and visiting professors from around the world. Overall, my lifelong academic tenure has profoundly advanced our understanding of important biological events in type 2 diabetes and its comorbidities with the goal of finding the cure and training the next generation of physicians and scientists.