Diabetes Expert Venkat Narayan Brings Global Experience to Emory
By Alma Freeman
 
     
 

For the first time in history, said Hubert Professor of Global Health and diabetes expert Venkat Narayan, there are more people in the world who are overweight or obese than people who are underweight and malnourished, a fact that has resulted in 240 million people worldwide who are affected by diabetes.

Narayan joined Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health nearly a year ago as a professor and researcher, after having spent the last 15 years studying the effects of diabetes. Narayan, who has lived and worked in five countries, hopes this global experience will compliment Emory’s new global health initiative.

  
Hubert Professor of Global Health Venkat Narayan speaks in February at the Emory Conference Center during the conference "What's Indian and HIV/AIDS in India?"
 
 

“Emory has a clear vision at the moment and has declared global health a strategic plan,” he said. “When you look at the student and faculty profile here, it’s becoming very international – I also consider myself lucky to be in the city of Atlanta which has so many rich health resources available.”

Despite his internationally acclaimed achievements in the field of diabetes, Narayan didn’t exactly plan to be a diabetes researcher. Growing up in India, Narayan moved to England to begin his health work as a clinical physician. In his third year of residency, he received a call early one morning from the hospital asking him to come in to assist with a patient who had swallowed Paracetamol tablets, an over-the-counter painkiller commonly used in Europe and abroad. He responded, as usual, but it was then that he realized his career in medicine had become routine and that he craved the ability to question and research more in his work. The following year, Narayan moved to Scotland where he pursued a master’s in epidemiology. After completion, he left for Arizona where he served as a visiting scientist with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in order to conduct field studies and clinical research on the prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the Pima Indian population. It was there that he realized he wanted to narrow his focus to the study of diabetes.

“Diabetes affects every organ, so studying it allows me to explore and think about the entire body,” he said. “Diabetes is a disease that cuts across all aspects of global health, and I believe that there is a lot that can be done to reduce and prevent the suffering of people with diabetes – these are the aspects that drive me.”

Before joining Emory, Narayan led the Diabetes Epidemiology and Statistics Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In some ways the work that he conducted during his 10-year tenure at CDC will remain the same, but in this capacity, he looks forward to an increased involvement in international studies and more interaction and engagement with students.

As the research director for the India, China, America (ICA) Institute, Narayan recently served as a key organizer of the Institute’s Conference on Education for Innovation in India, China, and America in March. In June, he hosted the discussion “Diabetes: The 21st Century Epidemic,” in partnership with the Chennai, India-based Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF). Emory recently collaborated with the Foundation to create a Global Diabetes Research Center in order to facilitate research and knowledge exchange opportunities for scientists and students in the U.S. and worldwide.

 
 
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