RESE ARCH TULSA
“Until recent years, children almost never got Type 2 diabetes; it has primarily been a disease of adults.”
The TODAY study’s diverse cohort is representative of the U.S. youth diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Study participants had regular, intensive diabetes management through the study at no cost during the original TODAY trial, which researchers note may have actually lowered the rate of complications. The TODAY and TODAY2 studies were conducted at the OU Health Sciences Center and 14 other centers in the United States. The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., served as the data coordinating center. The OU Health Sciences Center, the largest of the 15 clinical sites in the trial, also partnered with many tribal nations and communities, including the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, the Cherokee Nation, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma City Area Office of the Indian Health Service. “The TODAY study offered unique scientific opportunities and has led to important scientific discoveries. Equally important is the study’s leadership vision for promoting tribal engagement and treating its tribal partners with the respect and dignity that tribal nations are deserving of,” said Sohail Khan, MBBS, MPH, CIP, Director of Health Research at the Cherokee Nation. During the initial years of TODAY in Oklahoma, the study was led by Kenneth Copeland, M.D., now Professor Emeritus in the Section of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, of the OU College of Medicine. Following his leadership, the study has been directed by two other faculty members in the section, Associate Professor Jeanie Tryggestad, M.D., and Section Chief Steven Chernausek, M.D. “The TODAY study has demonstrated that youth-onset Type 2 diabetes is much more aggressive than Type 2 diabetes in adults,” said Tryggestad, who serves as the study’s local principal investigator. “Youth experience multiple complications very early in their disease process. This demonstrates the need to aggressively treat youth-onset Type 2 diabetes as well as continue to strive for better treatment to prevent the disease progression.” This work was completed with funding from NIDDK/NIH grant numbers U01-DK61212, U01-DK61230, U01-DK61239, U01-DK61242, and U01-DK61254; the National Center for Research Resources General Clinical Research Centers Program; and the NCRR Clinical and Translational Science Award Program. TODAY received additional support from Becton, Dickinson and Company; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Eli Lilly and Company; GlaxoSmithKline; LifeScan, Inc.; Pfizer; and Sanofi Aventis.
Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, M.D., is co-leading a national clinical trial studying a new imaging technique for bone marrow transplants.
Physician-Scientist Investigating New Bone Imaging Method in Clinical Trial With the lifesaving potential of a bone marrow transplant comes an anxious few weeks of waiting to see if the patient begins producing new cells. A hematology oncologist at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center is the co-leader of a national clinical trial that could revolutionize the field with an imaging technique that provides an early look at a transplant’s likely success or failure.
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