Professor Jerry Greenfield, Head of the Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology at St Vincent’s Hospital, has received several St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation grants to investigate various aspects of diabetes, obesity and metabolism. With an increasing number of Australians affected by diabetes and obesity, the research projects will assist to increase knowledge of the diseases and ultimately benefit patients.
Professor Greenfield received the 2016 Tancred Research Grant for the project “Insulin resistance and fracture risk in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study” which sought to determine whether the risk of fracture in a large cohort of obese patients, that had been recruited and followed up over many years, is related to insulin resistance.
“What the Tancred Grant has allowed our team to do is measure glucose and insulin and markers of bone turnover in a cohort of approximately 800 people and to relate that data to the incidence of fractures in those individuals. The project has led to a PhD project that will commence this year.” Professor Greenfield said. The project has attracted a NHMRC grant to support an Endocrinologist to undertake a project that will allow the question to be explored further and ultimately benefit outcomes for patients.
In another project that received a St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation Multidisciplinary grant for 2017, Professor Greenfield is working with dietician Leanne Gregory and diabetes educator Joanne Taylor, the manager of the Diabetes Service, on a pilot study into the benefits of the DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) program, a one week course for people with type 1 diabetes that aims to empower individuals to manage their diabetes in a more informative, effective and self-directed way.
“Managing type 1 diabetes is a real challenge. When making decisions regarding insulin doses, patients with type 1 diabetes need to incorporate what they eat, what their blood sugar is before their meal and whether they have exercised in the 24 hours before that meal. The DAFNE program allows them to more effectively integrate all of that information to determine insulin dosage, thereby improving their blood sugars and quality of life by giving them more control. It is the gold standard management option for patients with type 1 diabetes and it will have a palpable impact for patients with type 1 diabetes on a day-to-day basis.” Professor Greenfield said.
Professor Greenfield acknowledges that the St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation grants are a great way to turn ideas into research: “We value the St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation grants and see them as being an excellent springboard for obtaining other grants for larger projects that require provisional data to demonstrate that the team is capable of performing the project for which funding is sought.”