Our mission is to leverage, integrate, and expand our campus-wide strengths in basic, clinical, and community-based research to address disparities in diabetes and obesity in the Commonwealth and beyond. Our vision is to maximize the University of Kentucky’s research strengths and efforts to reduce the burden of diabetes and obesity and improve overall health of our population.

Strategies:

• Integrate and facilitate obesity and diabetes research across the UK campus to encompass the lifespan. This effort must be inclusive of all relevant colleges, centers and departments.
• Develop and promote research that covers the full spectrum of scientific investigation – from basic science through population research (T0 – T4).
• Build strategically key infrastructure and resources to support diabetes and obesity research across the spectrum. Utilize aspects of all funding sources at the Institution’s disposal (grants, contracts, philanthropy, enrichment, and bonding).
• Incentivize and cultivate local, regional, national and international research collaborations.
• Prioritize recruitment of investigators whose research expertise is within the diabetes and obesity focus. Capitalize on cluster recruitments that have the potential of being transformative.
• Protect and reward academic and research effort committed to obesity and diabetes.
• Develop and support an enriched environment to promote research initiatives.
• Support training initiatives to build an outstanding obesity and diabetes research workforce.    

For more information contact John Fowlkes, Director of the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, jlfowlk@uky.edu