UA College of Medicine Appoints World-Renowned Diabetes Researcher
Dr. James Sowers to Lead Statewide Diabetes Center

From: Susan Guthrie (602) 631-6555                                               June 12, 2006

James R. Sowers, MD, FACE, FACP, FAHA, an international leader in diabetes research, will join The University of Arizona College of Medicine to develop a comprehensive Diabetes Center.

“Dr. Sowers is widely considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on diabetes research,” said William Duckworth, MD, director of diabetes research, Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “He is a tremendous addition to the academic, research and medical communities of Arizona.”

Plans call for the UA College of Medicine Comprehensive Diabetes Center to create a statewide consortium of investigators, educators and health care providers that will focus on research, clinical care and education in diabetes. The Diabetes Center will provide an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach that will be focused in the College of Medicine programs in both Tucson and Phoenix.

This initiative is only possible in conjunction with multiple partners. They include University Physician’s Healthcare-Kino campus, and University Medical Center, the Carl T. Hayden and Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems, Arizona State University (ASU), the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the National Institutes for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). This assembly of expertise and experience directed toward the genetics, physiology, epidemiology and management of diabetes is unique, according to officials involved in the program. The Arizona Telemedicine and Tele-Health Programs already link with sites throughout the state, to provide diabetes education and distance care. These initiatives will expand further with Dr. Sower’s arrival.

Dr. Sowers currently is the Thomas W. and Joan F. Burns Missouri chair in Diabetology, director of the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Center at the University of Missouri—Columbia, where he also serves as associate dean for clinical research and a professor of medicine, physiology and pharmacology. He has published more than 450 articles and book chapters and 6 books related to diabetes research. He serves on the editorial boards of five diabetes-related publications, and is the editor of a new journal entitled Journal of the Cardiometabolic Syndrome. He also is a member of National Institutes of Health (NIH), VA Merit Board, and the American Heart National Reviews Committees. He received his medical degree from the University of Missouri Medical School and has more than 30 years medical education experience.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to work closely with partners such as the VA to build a diabetes center of excellence that will extend throughout the state,” said Dr. Sowers. “There is a significant need in Arizona for diabetes care and research.”

“Arizona has a unique environment that may not present any where else in the world,” said UA College of Medicine Dean Keith Joiner, MD, MPH. “The collaborators and populations right here in this state create an unprecedented opportunity to make tremendous advancements in the treatment and understanding of diabetes.”

This major effort is much-needed: diabetes is the fifth-deadliest disease in the United States, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). About 20.8 million Americas have the disease (7 percent of the population) and total costs reach $130 billion per year. In Arizona, diabetes is particularly devastating. Mexican-Americans, the largest Hispanic/Latino subgroup, are 1.7 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites according to the National Diabetes Information Clearing House. American Indians are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.

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