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Abbas E. Kitabchi MD, PhD, Named

Maston K. Callison Professor of Medicine in Endocrinology

in the College of Medicine at

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

 

Memphis, Tenn. (April 16, 2009) – Guy L. Reed, MD, Diggs Professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), announced that Abbas E. Kitabchi, MD, PhD, has been appointed the Maston K. Callison Professor of Medicine in Endocrinology for the Department of Medicine in the UT College of Medicine.  Dr. Callison was a former dean who made significant contributions toward enhancing research and teaching at the College of Medicine.

 

Dr. Kitabchi has ably led the UTHSC Division of Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine for more than 35 years.  He has stepped down as division chief to devote more time to his highly successful research endeavors.  He was originally recruited to the Health Science Center as Director of Research at the Veterans Administration Hospital, served as director of Endocrinology from 1973 to 2009, and was director of the General Clinical Research Center from 1973 to 1991.

 

Dr. Kitabchi completed his graduate and medical degrees at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center.  He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation where he was the first to isolate the product of lipid peroxidation – malondialdehyde – from the liver of vitamin E-deficient animals (Kitabchi et al J. Biol Chem., 1960).

 

            Dr. Kitabchi’s appointment to the endowed professorship is a testament to his extensive career accomplishments as well as his dedicated service to UTHSC.  His numerous honors and awards include a special National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fellowship in Endocrinology (with Dr. R.H. Williams) 1966 to 1968, and an American Diabetes Association (ADA) Charles H. Best Medal for Distinguished Service.  He appeared on the Best Doctors in America list for three consecutive periods, 1999, 2000 and 2002.  After the year 2000 awards, the Best Doctors previously annual recognition has been bestowed every other year.

 

“Dr. Kitabchi is an internationally known physician-scientist who has made fundamental contributions toward improving the care of patients with diabetes” stated Dr. Reed.

 

Dr. Kitabchi has received multiple NIH grants as principal investigator (PI).  At present he is the PI on three grants including the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcome Studies, and ACT NOW for prevention of diabetes by pharmaceutical agent. He has served and is serving on editorial boards for a variety of journals, and is a member of numerous societies including the ADA, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the Endocrine Society, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and International Diabetes Federation.  He is the author and co-author of more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, chapters and reviews on the subjects of diabetes, endocrinology, acute and chronic complications of diabetes, mechanism of insulin resistance, obesity, and the role of antioxidants in oxidative stress.

 

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is focused on a four-tier mission of education, research, clinical care and public service, all in support of a single goal: to improve the health of Tennesseans.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  UTHSC has additional College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy campuses in Knoxville, and a College of Medicine campus in Chattanooga.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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