Dr. Everett Vokes, Chair of the Department of Medicine , has announced the appointment of Raghu Mirmira, MD, PhD, as Associate Vice Chair for Translational Research. Dr. Mirmira, Professor of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and Director of the Department‘s Translational Research Center joined the faculty last November. Since that time his leadership, dedication and success as a translational investigator have been remarkable. His commitment to the development of trainees at all levels, and his prior experience as Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Indiana University School of Medicine, as well as his service as a Chair of the NIDDK B study section (which reviews T32s, K awards) underscores his qualifications to serve in this important new role.
Dr. Mirmira’s work is focused on Type 1 diabetes research—specifically on the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and the biology of islet cells. Among his many achievements, Dr. Mirmira’s research has led to the discovery and characterization of fast-acting insulin analogues, which are widely used by patients with diabetes today; more recently, his work has begun to dramatically reshape our understanding of the immune pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. His research has been continuously funded by NIH since 1999 and he currently serves as PI on five NIH R series and one NIH U series awards. As a scholar he has published nearly 150 scientific papers in prestigious journals. Dr. Mirmira currently serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
The Department of Medicine remains committed to increasing the number of well-trained young physician-scientists within each of our subspecialty sections and Dr. Mirmira will help advance this goal. As Associate Vice Chair for Translational Research, Dr. Mirima will join the team of Vice Chairs for Research: Yoav Gilad, PhD, Julian Solway, MD and Bana Jabri, MD, PhD , and Associate Vice Chair, Anne Sperling, PhD, to advance the Department’s scientific mission through the recruitment of transformational physician scientists and by enhancing the mentorship and development of our physician scientists.