E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, delivered the 35th annual UI Presidential Lecture, "Overfeeding the Heart: Diabetes and Cardiovascular Complications," in the fourth-floor assembly hall of the Levitt Center for University Advancement.
Dr. Abel is the chair and department executive officer of the Department of Internal Medicine, director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the Department of Internal Medicine, and director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics. He is a professor of medicine, of biochemistry, and of biomedical engineering, and he holds the John B. Stokes III Chair in Diabetes Research and the François M. Abboud Chair in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Abel has had a distinguished career in endocrine-related research. His pioneering work on glucose transport in the heart guides his current research interests: molecular mechanisms responsible for cardiac dysfunction in diabetes. He directs a focused research group examining the molecular mechanisms leading to cardiac dysfunction in diabetes and the regulation of myocardial growth and metabolism by insulin signaling. His studies have elucidated mechanisms responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction displayed by the heart as a result of insulin resistance and insulin action in the heart. These findings provide insight into the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction in the diabetic heart.
Dr. Abel is an established investigator of the American Heart Association (AHA). His research program has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1995 and has received major support from the AHA, the American Diabetes Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA). He is a member of the board of directors of Keystone Symposia, the immediate past chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, and the immediate past chair of the board of directors of the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation. He serves as a council member for the North American Section of the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) and is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Dr. Abel was recently elected president of the Endocrine Society. Additionally, Dr. Abel has received many scholastic honors.