Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, Conrad M. Riley Endowed Professor of Epidemiology and Pediatrics, Director, Lifecurse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, CU Anschutz, Colorado School of Public Health
Dr. Dabelea’s main research interest is the understanding of the complex and multifactorial etiology of pediatric diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, with a goal of reducing, delaying and preventing its occurrence and burden. She is particularly interested in how early life risk factors, such as exposure to maternal diabetes during intrauterine life, other exposures during fetal or early post-natal life, and infant growth and feeding patterns, influence the development of childhood obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Dr. Dabelea is the PI for multiple NIH studies, including investigations exploring differences in markers of subclinical cardiovascular disease in youth with diabetes and non-diabetic controls; the long-term consequences of fetal exposures on childhood obesity phenotypes; factors during pregnancy and early life influences on a child’s growth and risk for obesity and future diseases; and an intervention for prevention of T2D in American Indian youth. As the Director of the LEAD Center and lead investigator on over $18 million NIH and CDC grants, she oversees large, longitudinal, cohort studies spanning the entire lifecourse, from pregnancy through old age.
