Dr. Meredith Hawkins is Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the Einstein-Mt. Sinai Regional Diabetes Research Center. She holds the Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Medicine. Dr. Hawkins earned her M.D. degree cum laude from the University of Toronto and a Master of Science in Clinical Research Methods cum laude from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She has served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology, and as Secretary Treasurer of the American Federation of Medical Research. Dr. Hawkins' current research interests include the effects of nutrient deficiency and excess on the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, central regulation of glucose metabolism, nutritional regulation of adipose tissue inflammation, and hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure.

Dr. Hawkins is a Beeson Scholar of the American Federation of Aging Research, and has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health (continually since 1999), the American Diabetes Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International and the Diabetes Action Foundation International. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Junior Physician Scientist Award (2001) and the Outstanding Investigator Award (2012) from the American Federation of Medical Research, the Novartis Young Investigator award in Diabetes Research (2007), and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2012). She recently served on the Congressionally-appointed National Clinical Care Commission. 

Dr. Hawkins founded and directs Einstein's Global Diabetes Institute (http://www.einstein.yu.edu/centers/global-health/global-diabetes-institute/, with the goal of building strategic partnerships in medical research and education to combat the burgeoning global diabetes epidemic.

Past 3 years:

1. Carey M, Lontchi-Yimagou E, Mitchell W, Reda S, Zhang K, Kehlenbrink S, Koppaka S, Maginley SR, Aleksic S, Bhansali S, Huffman DM, Hawkins M. Central KATP channels modulate glucose effectiveness in humans and rodents. Diabetes. 2020 Jun;69(6):1140-1148. doi: 10.2337/db19-1256. PMID: 32217610 (Selected as Editor’s Choice by Science Translational Medicine, 29 Apr 2020: Vol. 12, Issue 541, eabb5677).

2. Lontchi-Yimagou E, Aleksic S, Hulkower R, Gospin R, Goyal A, Kuo B, Mitchell WG, You JY, Upadhyay L, Carey M, Sandu OA, Gabriely I, Shamoon H, Hawkins M. Plasma epinephrine contributes to the development of experimental hypoglycemic-associated autonomic failure. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2020 Nov 1;105(11):dgaa539. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa539.PMID: 32915987

3. Lontchi-Yimagou E, Kang S, Goyal A, You J-Y, Carey M, Rosen E, Kishore P, Hawkins M. Insulin Sensitizing Effects of Vitamin D Mediated through Reduced Adipose Tissue Inflammation and Fibrosis in Humans and Mice. Molecular Metabolism 2020 Dec;42:101095. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2020.101095. Epub 2020 Oct 10. PMID: 33045433 

4. Brightwell CR, Kulkarni AS, Paredes W, Zhang K, Perkins JB, Gatlin KJ, Custodio M, Farooq H, Zaidi B, Pai R, Buttar RS, Tang Y, Melamed ML, Hostetter TH, Pessin JE, Hawkins M, Fry CS, Abramowitz MK. Muscle fibrosis and maladaptation occur progressively in CKD and are rescued by dialysis. JCI Insight. 2021 Dec 22;6(24):e150112. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.150112. PMID: 34784301

5. Cefalu WT, Andersen DK, Arreaza-Rubín G, Pin CL, Sato S, Verchere CB, Woo M, Rosenblum ND; Symposium planning committee, moderators, and speakers. Heterogeneity of Diabetes: β-Cells, Phenotypes, and Precision Medicine: Proceedings of an International Symposium of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Diabetes Care. 2022 Jan 1;45(1):3-22. doi: 10.2337/dci21-0051. PMID: 34782355

6. Lontchi-Yimagou E, DasGupta R, Kehlenbrink S, Koppaka S, Carey M, Stein DT, Thomas N, Hawkins M. An Atypical form of diabetes in low BMI individuals. Diabetes Care 2022 45(6):1428-1437. doi: 10.2337/dc21-1957. PMID: 35522035 (In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric: as of July 13, 2023, the paper has received 8,874 reads and has been picked up by 94 news outlets.)

7. J C Chai, G-C Chen, B Yu, J Xing, J Li, T Khambaty, K. M. Perreira, M J Perera, D. C. Vidot, S. F. Castaneda, E. Selvin, C. M. Rebholz, M. L. Daviglus, J Cai, L Van Horn, C R Isasi, Qi Sun, M Hawkins, X Xue, E Boerwinkle, R. C. Kaplan, Q Qi. Serum Metabolomics of Incident Diabetes and Glycemic Changes in a Population with High Diabetes Burden: the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Diabetes 2022 Jun 1;71(6):1338-1349. PMID: 35293992

8. Lontchi-Yimagou E, Anoop S, Kurian ME, Ye K, Kehlenbrink S, Thomas N, Hawkins M. Response to Comment on Lontchi-Yimagou et al. An Atypical Form of Diabetes Among Individuals With Low BMI. Diabetes Care 2022;45:1428-1437. Diabetes Care. 2022 Nov 1;45(11):e159-e160. doi: 10.2337/dci22-0031.PMID: 36318676

9. Herman WH, Schillinger D, Bolen S, Boltri JM, Bullock A, Chong W, Conlin PR, Cook JW, Dokun A, Fukagawa N, Gonzalvo J, Greenlee MC, Hawkins M, Idzik S, Leake E, Linder B, Lopata AM, Schumacher P, Shell D, Strogatz D, Towne J, Tracer H, Wu S. The National Clinical Care Commission Report to Congress: Recommendations to Better Leverage Federal Policies and Programs to Prevent and Control Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2023 Feb 1;46(2):255-261. doi: 10.2337/dc22-1587. PMID: 36701592

10. Greenlee MC, Bolen S, Chong W, Dokun A, Gonzalvo J, Hawkins M, Herman WH, Leake E, Linder B, Conlin PR. The National Clinical Care Commission Report to Congress: Leveraging Federal Policies and Programs to Improve Diabetes Treatment and Reduce Complications. Diabetes Care. 2023 Feb 1;46(2):e51-e59. doi: 10.2337/dc22-0621. PMID: 36701593

11. Cook J, Hawkins M, Pajvani UB. Liver insulinization as a driver of triglyceride dysmetabolism. Nature Medicine. 2023 (e-publication 17 July 2023)