Dr. Rita J. Louard is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Director of the Clinical Diabetes Program at Montefiore Medical Center (Moses Campus), and Director of the Montefiore Diabetes Clinic. She is actively involved in clinical endocrinology—particularly diabetes—and educational programs for students, residents and fellows, and has created and participated in many educational programs on a local and national level.

Dr. Louard’s volunteer activities reflect her belief that communities need to work together to improve the care of people with diabetes. She was inaugural chair of the Diabetes Advisory Council, a part of the CDC-funded Georgia Diabetes Program whose mission is to reduce the burden of diabetes in Georgia, and past president of the South Coastal Regional Board of the American Diabetes Association. She served on the National Board and as National Chair of the Inclusion Committee for the American Diabetes Association.

Dr. Louard has received numerous awards for her community service, including the 2003 American Legacy Healthcare Award and JB Johnson Award for contributions to the field of cardiovascular medicine by the National Medical Association. She is board certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Dr. Louard earned a bachelor’s degree at Bryn Mawr College and a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital and a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Yale University School of Medicine. She then joined the faculty at Yale, where she conducted research in protein metabolism and pursued a clinical interest in diabetes. She was recruited to the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta to build a program in diabetes. While there, she served as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Care Center for Medical College of Georgia. Prior to coming to Einstein, she was a faculty member of the Atlanta Medical Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program and director of the Diabetes Metabolic Center.