June 1, 2015—(BRONX, NY)—Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received a $10.5 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue their Diabetes Research Center (DRC), which has been newly named the Einstein-Mount Sinai DRC. The regional collaborative combines Einstein's basic and clinical research strengths with Mount Sinai's beta cell and community outreach expertise. Researchers and clinicians at Montefiore Health System, Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Hunter College, Winthrop-University Hospital, Stony Brook University and NYU Langone Medical Center also participate. This new grant is part of an ongoing NIH effort to encourage multi-institution, regional research centers.

Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D.Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D., the Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Professorial Chair in Diabetes Research at Einstein and principal investigator on the grant, will direct the new multi-institution center. Dr. Pessin, who has led Einstein's DRC for the past seven years, played an integral role in creating the new regional center. For the last several years, he has hosted a diabetes conference that brings together leading diabetes researchers from New York-area medical centers.

"We wanted to keep the conversation going all year long," said Dr. Pessin, who is also professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology at Einstein. "Our outstanding diabetes-specific core facilities, coupled with a robust and highly interactive research base and strong interactions with Mount Sinai, positioned us to create a regional diabetes research center."

"This multi-institution center will boost diabetes research and care in the New York metropolitan area to a new level," added Andrew Stewart, M.D., Associate Director of the Einstein-Mount Sinai DRC, Director of the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at Mount Sinai.  

“We aim to expand ongoing diabetes and metabolic disease research projects, initiate new research studies and promote advances in research technologies. We’ll also work to improve the delivery of existing services and develop new services. Collaborations in all these areas will ultimately help speed findings from bench to bedside.”

– Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D.

With the new regional diabetes grant, "we aim to expand ongoing diabetes and metabolic disease research projects, initiate new research studies and promote advances in research technologies," said Dr. Pessin. "We'll also work to improve the delivery of existing services and develop new services.  Collaborations in all these areas will ultimately help speed findings from bench to bedside." 

The Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center includes:

1. The Einstein Diabetes Center faculty research base
2. The Montefiore-Einstein Clinical Diabetes Center
3. Diabetes-specific core facilities located at Einstein and Mount Sinai  
4. A pilot and feasibility grant program to foster new diabetes-related research by faculty at Einstein, Mount Sinai and other participating institutions
5. The Global Diabetes Institute, partnered with Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
6. The Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
7. The Mount Sinai Diabetes Center

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 29 million in the U.S., or 9.3 percent of the population, have diabetes. An additional 37 percent of Americans aged 20 or older have prediabetes. It is estimated that diabetes costs more than $245 billion a year in both direct medical costs and indirect costs, such as disability, work loss and premature death.

The grant, issued by the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, is titled Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center (P30DK02054). The DRC receives additional support from the New York Obesity Research Center (NYORC), the Center for the Study of Diabetic Complications, and the Montefiore Clinical Diabetes Center.