Comprehensive Diabetes Center

Four projects have been selected as the inaugural awardees of the Dr. Latesha E. Elopre Health Across the Lifecourse (HEAL) Pilot Program, supporting innovative research designed to improve health outcomes across the lifespan.

This month, we’re spotlighting Md Saimoon Rahman, a graduate student from Bangladesh who is working on his thesis in the Wende Lab in the UAB Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology.

UAB researchers observed an increase in severe diabetes subtypes in U.S. adults after the COVID-19 pandemic. Their studies led them to develop a new tool to help clinicians identify diabetes subtypes in their patients.

Ortal Resnick, M.D., a third-year fellow in the UAB Department of Pediatrics Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, has been selected as a 2026 RAPID Scholar. 

The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) and Diabetes Research Center (DRC) members and trainees will share their latest scientific findings at the world’s largest diabetes conference, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 86th Scientific Sessions, June 5-8, in New Orleans.

Priscila Sato, Ph.D., is associate professor in the Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Diseases. Her lab focuses on molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, with particular emphasis on G-protein coupled receptor signaling and cardiac metabolism. She joined UAB in 2023.

The UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center welcomes Madison Newberry Hamby, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow who joined the laboratory of Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., in January 2026.

A research manuscript by Fernando Bril, M.D., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, is featured in the Endocrine Society’s Article Highlights of 2025, a selective list celebrating the quality and excellence of articles published in the past year.

A new study led by Ananda Basu, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, determines why early post-meal glucagon concentrations are higher in Type 1 diabetes (T1D) than in individuals without diabetes using a novel glucagon isotope tracer. His findings were recently published in the February 2026 issue of Diabetes. 

A new research study led by UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center scientist Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., shows that cholesterol-lowering drugs enhance weight loss facilitated by glucagon receptor agonist obesity drugs.

Our Get to Know series highlights our dynamic researchers from across the UCDC, from faculty members to trainees and laboratory staff. This month, we’re spotlighting Huixian Hong, M.D., Ph.D., an experienced researcher who joined the lab of Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., as lab manager in 2025.

Explore key 2026 diabetes research conferences and grant deadlines compiled by the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

Sushant Bhatnagar, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, has published an extensive review in Comprehensive Physiology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Physiological Society, offering new insights into the cell-specific roles of BAI receptors in health and metabolic disorders.

Thi Yen Ly Huynh, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Ramanadham Lab at the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC), was granted a travel award to present at the Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference (SERLC) in Asheville, North Carolina, Nov. 5-7, 2025.

UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office (LDO) honored 33 graduates of the Emerging Leaders Series (ELS) fall 2025 Cohort 4 during a ceremony held on Thursday, Nov. 12. The cohort completed a multi-session program designed to strengthen leadership capability for emerging leaders across the enterprise.

Meet Adam Wende, Ph.D., Professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology in the Heersink School of Medicine Department of Pathology. His work has been funded by the American Heart Association, Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF), and most recently the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH.

In honor of Diabetes Awareness Month, we caught up with Nicole Johnson, DrPH, the first Miss America with Type 1 diabetes (T1D), who now calls Birmingham home. Johnson shares her story of living with T1D since age 19 and how it has shaped her lifelong career of advocacy and education.

Haifa Alsharif, Ph.D., said working under the mentorship of Sushant Bhatnagar, Ph.D., in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) shaped her scientific path and deepened her appreciation for metabolic and diabetes research.

Rithvikha Nair, a senior studying in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC), has received a 2025 undergraduate fellowship program funding award from Cayman Biomedical Research Institute (CABRI) to support her research in Type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Thi Yen Ly Huynh, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Ramanadham Lab at the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC), was selected as a finalist for the Outstanding Young Scientist Awards to be presented at the International Meeting on Lipid Mediators in Health and Disease.

UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center Scientist Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., will speak at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) glucagon physiology workshop, Feb. 9-10, 2026.

Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine in the UAB Department of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, has received funding from Eli Lilly and Company to continue investigation of glucagon receptor activation in incretin-based obesity therapies.

UAB diabetes researchers presented their latest work on an international stage at the 61st Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 15-19.

Ben Gran is the lab manager for both Dr. Rita Basu and Dr. Ananda Basu who are clinical diabetes researchers at the UCDC. Gran has been with the Basu Lab for a decade supporting cutting-edge diabetes research studies. 

According to the 2025-2026 rankings released in July, UAB Medicine ranked nationally in five adult specialties and high performing in seven other specialties including diabetes and endocrinology.

A new study led by UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center Associate Scientist Fernando Bril, M.D., provides the first evidence that MASLD prevalence is beginning to decrease in adults with diabetes in the U.S. for the first time in decades. However, this good news is overshadowed by the significant increase observed in liver fibrosis.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham startup TIXiMED, Inc., has successfully completed a Phase 1 single ascending dose study of the drug TIX100 in humans, marking a key milestone in the development of a first-of-its kind oral therapy for Type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Ananda Basu, MBBS, MD, FRCP, M.D., has been appointed as an associate director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) and will play an integral role on the center’s leadership team.

A new study led by Ananda Basu, M.D., used novel non-radioactive, stable glucagon tracers for the first time to characterize glucagon metabolism in humans with and without Type 1 diabetes, providing tools for further exploration into pancreatic alpha cell function in both Type 1 and 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior Nic Amison recently spent two semesters serving as the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center’s (UCDC) first communications intern. 

UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) Director Anath Shalev, M.D., was invited to write a mini-review for Endocrinology, the flagship journal of the Endocrine Society.

Originally from Elkmont, Alabama, Perez contributes to multiple projects in the Bhatnagar Lab, which researches insulin secretion from beta cells.

UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) senior scientists Ananda Basu, M.D., and Rita Basu, M.D., were each honored during the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Spring 2025 Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception, May 7.

UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) scientist Kirk Habegger, Ph.D., is featured in the Diabetes Spotlight in the May 2025 issue of Diabetes, the flagship research publication of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). 

 As a lab manager, Khadija Seck oversees daily lab operations and helps coordinate experiments in the Habegger Lab.

Haifa Alsharif, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC), won first place for her poster presentation at the UAB Department of Medicine’s 2025 Trainee Research Symposium (TRS).

A new study by Rita Basu, M.D., and collaborators, finds that restoring hepatic glycogen improves nocturnal glucose regulation in humans with Type 2 diabetes.

UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center (UCDC) Director Anath Shalev, M.D., was invited to present at the International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD), held in Amsterdam, March 19-22.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE) celebrated its annual Innovation Awards on October 11, 2024, recognizing outstanding innovators and entrepreneurial achievements. Anath Shalev, M.D., director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center and founder of TIXiMED, was awarded the 2024 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award, the institute’s highest honor. Shalev's start-up, TIXiMED, recently advanced toward clinical trials after receiving FDA clearance for its novel Type 1 diabetes treatment, TIX100.

From January to May of 2023, Shelby Lyda, M.D., was extremely tired and had brain fog, but she chalked it up to the demands of a residency program.

Department of Medicine Facilities Coordinator Corey Cates, M.S., was six years old when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. For doctors to uncover Cates’ diagnosis, it took a two-and-a-half-hour drive as well as a one-week stay at the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, TX in 1996.

In March 2023, UAB celebrated the Medical Alumni Association’s 50th Annual Medical Alumni Weekend, the 70th Anniversary of Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the 15th Anniversary of UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center. These milestones serve as an excellent opportunity to look at where we started and a reminder to look forward to all we wish to achieve.

Department of Pediatrics Professor and Ralph Froshin Endowed Chair in Pediatric Endocrinology Ambika Ashraf, M.D., co-edited a book “Pediatric Dyslipidemia” alongside colleague Bhuvana Sunil, M.D.

Over one million Americans are living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). According to Beyond Type 1, the number of those with T1D is steadily climbing at 2.9% per year, versus the population growth of 0.8% per year.

This week, leaders from across UAB gathered to honor Stuart J. Frank, M.D., at the naming dedication of the Stuart J. Frank, M.D. Conference Room in the Boshell Diabetes Building (BDB). Hallways were lined with cherished colleagues, friends, and mentees. Department of Medicine Executive Vice Chair and Professor Emeritus, Stuart J. Frank, M.D., joined UAB in 1991 and has had an illustrious three-decade career as a physician-scientist.

Maria Grant, M.D., FARVO, professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and her colleagues have published a study that provides hope in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

Ava Michl was traversing her new collegiate world through freshman year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham when she was rocked by an unexpected Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Up to that point in her life, Michl had no idea she had diabetes.

Department of Psychology Associate Professor Michael Sloane, Ph.D., grew up in the rolling countryside of Ireland, where processed foods were far from a dietary staple– everything was farm to table. His family grew all their own vegetables and fruits, raised chickens for eggs, and bought meat from a neighboring farmer or fresh cuts from the town butcher. So, when he came over to the U.S. to complete his doctoral work at Northwestern University in 1979, Sloane was plunged into a consumer market that was riddled with highly processed and sugary food choices.

The year was 1997. Department of Medicine Communications Director Carolyn Walsh was traveling on i459 when things did not feel quite right. She was fighting to stay awake at the wheel, noticing bouts of drowsiness on and off. Before she could pull over, Walsh was in a car accident.

UAB Heersink School of Medicine staff council representatives have officially been named for the 2022-2024 term. See who has been elected to represent you!