Thomas A Buchanan

Biography

"Thomas A. Buchanan, M.D., is Professor of Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Physiology and Biophysics; Vice Dean for Research; Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes in the Department of Medicine in Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. He is also the founding director of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Scientifically, Dr. Buchanan conducts research into the etiology, pathogenesis, genetics and prevention of gestational and type 2 diabetes with a focus on diabetes in Hispanic Americans. Buchanan and colleagues have conducted longitudinal studies of high risk individuals to define patterns of change in insulin resistance and insulin secretion that lead to type 2 diabetes. Based on their findings, they then conducted the first successful type 2 diabetes prevention study in the United States. The biological information gained from that study pointed to a specific pancreatic beta cell defect that is heritable, a finding that formed the basis for a large family based study that has helped to identify the genetic basis for the metabolic abnormalities that lead to type 2 diabetes. In aggregate studies performed by Buchanan and his colleagues have contributed to important advances in clinical care for gestational diabetes and the prevention of type 2 diabetes in Hispanic Americans"

Research Interest

etiology, pathogenesis, genetics and prevention of gestational and type 2 diabetes