Research Team

Aaron I. Vinik, MD, PhD, FCP, FACP, FACE
Director, Strelitz Diabetes Research Institute

Dr. Vinik has brought international recognition to Virginia as a result of his research and recent discover of a gene which could prove to be a cure for diabetes. The gene, INGAP (islet neogenesis associated protein) is responsible, either alone or in combination with other factors, for stimulating immature cells in the diabetic pancreas to produce insulin. INGAP protein has been administered to diabetic hamsters and has been shown to reverse diabetes in 40% to 50% of animals. The discovery has far reaching implications: it could free the two million people with type I diabetes from daily injections of insulin; it could help the 20 million people with type 2 diabetes whose pancreas ultimately fails; and, it could be used in genetic screening to identify those predisposed for developing diabetes. The discovery is a result of 16 years of perseverance, committed to the belief (thought by many to be heretical) that islets could be made to grow.

The success in finding the INGAP gene follows years of success in research and treatment of neuropathy, a complication of diabetes. Dr. Vinik is a national leader in basic and clinical neuropathy. He, in essence, has defined the heterogeneity of neuropathy, established a need for a modular approach depending on the particular nerve fiber damaged, and pioneered studies on the relationship between neuropathy, autoimmunity, and cell toxicity. His advances in the understanding of neuropathy have resulted in patient treatment referrals from all parts of the United States and many other countries. He has been listed amongst the best physicians in USA for the past nine years.

Dr. Vinik has been invited to present his work all over the world. Recognized as a pioneer and a scholar, Dr. Vinik has authored five books, one devoted to islet regeneration, 75 book chapters, and has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed, highly reputable journals. He has also published more than 260 abstracts and he and the fellows he has trained have presented scientific papers at innumerable national and international meetings. He has been invited to give the Banting Lecture at the University of Toronto, the Minkowski Lecture in Kaunas, Lithuania, and the "INGAP Story" in Helsingor, Denmark at the International Pancreatic Islet Symposium. He has been "Meet the Professor" at the Endocrine Society, American Diabetes Association, and American College of Physicians. Dr. Vinik received the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research in 1993, Dean's Award for Outstanding Faculty in 1999, the Virginia Outstanding Scientist 2002 and Southern Medical Association’s Seale Harris Award 2003. He was elected AOA in 2004 by students of EVMS.

Dr. Vinik is a member of a number of professional societies including the American Endocrine, Diabetes, Gastroenterology, and the European and International Diabetes associations. Dr. Vinik was a member of the National Institute of Health General Clinical Research Center Study Section and the NIH Data Management committee. He was also Chairman of the American Diabetes Association task force on Nutrition, which established the guidelines for nutritional management of diabetes, and Chairman of the subcommittee for development of guidelines for neuropathy testing; in addition, he was a member of the committee to develop guidelines for managing lipid disorders in diabetes. He was Chairperson of the American Diabetes Association Grant Review Committee and Director of the National Post-Graduate Education Course.

Dr. Vinik has received research funding for his studies from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the Kroc Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, HUD, DHHS, NASA, The Diabetes Institutes Foundation, and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Vinik holds three issued patents; six more patents are being studied. He holds the copyright for the Quality of Life tool for assessing lifestyle problemsin diabetic neuropathy.

Gary L. Pittenger, PhD
Director, Protein Chemistry Lab

Dr. Pittenger spent 20 years at the University of Michigan as student, researcher and instructor with a particular emphasis on endocrinology. His thesis work described the role of the low molecular weight heat-shock protein in male reproductive endocrine regulation. He also worked for several years alongside Dr. Vinik studying the regulation of the gastrointestinal endocrine system, leading to their collaboration at the Strelitz Diabetes Institutes.

At the Strelitz Diabetes Institutes, Dr. Pittenger’s major research efforts are focused on the two major areas of research. First, he is finding proteins that play a role in inducing or regulating the formation of new insulin-producing cells. He is co-inventor with Dr. Vinik of INGAP, an inducer of the formation of new insulin-producing cells, and is currently studying the proteins involved in INGAP biology. Of particular interest are the proteins that bind INGAP. He is also leading studies on how diabetes causes nerve damage. These include identifying neurotoxic factors in blood from patients with nerve damage as well as developing methods, such as measuring nerve fibers in skin, for quantitating the degree of damage, possibly as a means to evaluate treatments.

Dr. Pittenger is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, 75 abstracts and 5 book chapters and has presented work done at the SDI at many national and international meetings. He has also trained numerous students at the high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. He is a member of several professional societies including the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Society for Cell Biology and the Peripheral Nerve Society.

David Taylor-Fishwick, PhD
Director, Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory

Dr. David Taylor-Fishwick has been a member of basic science research teams in England, Switzerland, and the USA. A common goal of his research has been the development of new strategies for disease cure through discovery of how growth-factors regulate cell function. Before joining SDI, David spent four years in pharmaceutical research at AstraZeneca in England, latterly as a Principal Molecular Immunologist. Here he helped identify novel regulatory pathways and investigated the role of novel chemical entities on cell regulation in the immune system.

Dr. David Taylor-Fishwick has presented at several international and national meetings. He has authored 2 book chapters, generated 5 patents and published over 20 articles. David is a professional member of the American Diabetes Association and the British Society for Immunology. He has received grant funding for his research from the Commonwealth Health Research Board.

At the SDI a major research focus of Dr. Taylor-Fishwick is to identify the molecular switches (be they genes, ligands or receptors) that are required to regenerate insulin-producing cells. These cells will be generated either within the pancreas or from other non-pancreatic cell-based sources.

Dr Taylor-Fishwicks’ Cell and Molecular Biology lab is further studying the regulation of INGAP, a protein shown to generate new islets. By characterizing the INGAP gene promoter, several factors that regulate INGAP have been identified. These are helping to clarify the check-points in creating new insulin-producing cells. A new model of resistance to diabetes developed in INGAP transgenic mice is additionally aiding discovery of pathways that could prevent diabetes. Exploring factors essential for insulin-producing cell creation during pancreas development will further identify those pathways obligate to generating new islet mass in the adult pancreas.

By exploiting these and future molecular discoveries, it is anticipated that these research avenues will facilitate new therapies for diabetes.

Dr. Jorge L. Jacot
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine

Dr. Jorge L. Jacot received his Ph.D. in physiology in 1993 from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland. He received several awards from the University including "Excellence in Cardiovascular/Cancer Research Award" and was the invited Farewell Address Speaker at the University’s 1994 Commencement. Dr. Jacot was one of the early investigators that described the role of nitric oxide in the regulation of retinal and choroidal microcirculation. Dr. Jacot completed a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, National Eye Institute where he contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms operant in diabetic retinopathy. His work at the NIH was recognized with the Fellows Award for Research Excellence in 1996 and with Travel Fellowship Grants from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (1994 & 1996)

Dr. Jacot served as Director of Biology at a biotechnology company with research efforts aimed at developing small molecule drug for the prevention of diabetic complications. His research and leadership efforts awarded him the Outstanding Performer Scientist Achievement Award 2001. His current research focus is the role of matrix metalloproteinases in the development of diabetic complications. Dr. Jacot is a scientific reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, has been awarded three USA patents, and has over a dozen publications and numerous abstracts.

Dr. Terry A. Tamaroglio-Jacot (Pictured above with Dr. Jorge Jacot)
Instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine

Dr. Terry A. Tamaroglio-Jacot, Instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine, has investigated the mechanisms of vascular complications in diabetes. Dr. Jacot received a Ph.D. in physiology from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland where she began investigating the role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) on extracellular matrix production in cells involved in atherosclerosis and diabetic nephropathy. After receiving her degree, she had training in internationally known laboratories at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for research in IGF-I and its binding proteins as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research in the role of growth hormone/IGF-I in glomerulosclerosis. She received the Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular/Cancer Research (1991) and the NIH Staff Recognition Award (1997).

Prior to her appointment at EVMS, Dr. Jacot conducted research at the VA Medical Center, Yale Affiliate, New Haven, Connecticut as a research physiologist studying ion transport mechanisms in the kidney. Her current research includes investigations into the cellular mechanisms of pancreatic neogenesis.

Henri Parson, PhD
Director, Microvascular Biology Laboratory

Dr. Henri Parson, a native of Norfolk, VA, began her scientific journey as a chemistry major at Hampton University. While there, she was supported by numerous scholarships and participated in research involving the synthesis, purification, and characterization of novel inorganic metal complexes. Upon matriculation, Dr. Parson went on to Old Dominion University (ODU) to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical chemistry. Her thesis research involved the analysis of biological samples for various contraband drugs and their metabolites. After receiving her doctorate in clinical chemistry from the joint biomedical sciences program at ODU and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), Dr. Parson joined the ODU chemistry department for a short stint as a visiting professor.

Dr. Parson joined the Strelitz Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI) in January of 2001. During her first year, she was extensively involved in the coordination of a clinical research study involving physical activity, in situ nitric oxide measurements and neurovascular dysfunction. Subsequently, she was awarded a two-year American Diabetes Association (ADA) fellowship to continue performing research on the mechanistic defect in diabetic neuropathy.

Dr. Parson has presented her work at the ADA scientific meetings and publish the results in several peer-reviewed journals. She was recently promoted to Director of the Microvascular Biology Lab at the SDRI. Her mission is to make advances in diabetic neuropathy research by understanding the mechanistic defect in microvascular dysfunction and the cultural and socioeconomic disparities that cause increased diabetic ulcerations and amputations in minority populations.

Patricia M. Barlow, RN, BSN
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator

Pat Barlow began her career as a registered nurse working on a diabetes inpatient unit at the University of Michigan Medical Center. It was there where she first met Dr. Aaron Vinik. In 1985 she began coordinating clinical research trials for him. When he took the position as Director of Research at the Strelitz Diabetes Institutes in 1990, he asked her to join him in setting up and administrating the clinical research program. She now coordinates a team of researchers working with human subjects to test new and innovative treatments primarily for diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage), as well as conducting the training program for new clinical research employees. In addition, she still runs clinical trials, providing assiduous care and monitoring of the subjects involved as well as meticulous documentation of all study-related data.

Along with being a sub-investigator on numerous clinical trials, Ms. Barlow has worked closely with the research team to describe many of the nuances of diabetic neuropathies. She has also been a co-author on eight articles published in scientific journals, thirty-one abstracts and three book chapters. She is currently a sub-investigator on grants totaling almost 1.7 million dollars and is a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals.