Professor Anna Gloyn hopes to improve the lives of all those living with diabetes
Having a fellow student with type 1 diabetes sparked her initial interest in the field. Now she is one of the front runners in diabetes research, and newly rewarded with an Honorary Doctorate at the Faculty of Medicine, UiB.
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Anna Gloyn has worked as Professor in Pediatrics (Endocrinology) and Genetics at the University of Stanford since February 2020. Before that, she worked sixteen years at the University of Oxford, where she also completed her PhD/DPhil.
Her initial interest for the field of diabetes however, started as an undergraduate in biochemistry, at the University of Surrey, UK:
"I was introduced to the wonders of insulin through my lectures on metabolism and through a fellow student, Helen, who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was two years old", she says.
She says she had never realized before how much time and effort living with diabetes demanded:
"I had no idea what it meant to be someone living with diabetes. I couldn’t get over how much of Helen’s day was taken up with just managing her blood sugar levels and what the consequences were for her if she didn’t get it right", she says.
At the same time, her interest was sparked because Helen’s mum and older brother also had type 1 diabetes:
"I realized it had to be something in their genes", she says.
Mapping the different types of diabetes
The moment she truly got set on making this her academic path in her life came when she spotted an advent for a PhD (or as Oxford calls them DPhil) Project at Oxford University on the Genetics of Diabetes with the late Professor Robert Turner.
"This really was the fork in the road for me, where I committed to a research journey in understanding the molecular genetics of diabetes", she says.
As a researcher she has devoted her career to mapping out the different types of diabetes. It is common to separate the different types of diabetes into type 1 and 2, but there are many other varieties, or "flavors", as the professor puts it.
"My research has focused both on discovering new "flavors" of diabetes and understanding the many ways pancreatic beta-cells fail leading to diabetes", she says.
From injections to a daily pill
Ever since she worked as a PhD student she has been fascinated both by pancreatic beta-cells, which are responsible for making and releasing the hormone insulin, and the fact that diabetes is more common in some families than others.
"A key feature of my work has been using this knowledge to improve how we diagnose and treatment people with diabetes, to deliver precision medicine for diabetes".
One of her discoveries has changed the life of patients all over the world for the better:
"As a post-doctoral scientist working at the University of Exeter in the UK with Professor Andrew Hattersley, I identified the most common cause of diabetes in children diagnosed in the first year of their life and showed that this form of diabetes can be treated with a class of medications called sulphonylureas which can be taken orally, rather than requiring daily insulin injections", says Gloyn.
The move from daily injections to a daily pill both improves the quality of life for these individuals and reduces their risk of long-term complications from their diabetes.
Working as a "gene detective"
Gloyn is passionate about her work. What she enjoys the most is being presented with an unusual case of diabetes, and setting out to discover both the right diagnosis and treatment for that specific patient:
"I love it when one of our Pediatric Endocrinology Fellows reaches out me to discuss a baby or child who has an unusual diabetes presentation and we get to work through the family history together and be gene detectives", she says.
Her main driving force is the potential to improve the life of her patients:
"Knowing that we can make a difference by providing diagnostic certainty and connecting them with other families with children who have the same type of diabetes is amazing".
She also finds what she describes as a "wonderful buzz" seeing her trainees succeed:
"Whether they are new faculty setting up their own labs, heading teams in pharma or even starting their own companies: There is nothing quite like feeling you are a small part of helping them realize their potential", she exclaims.
"Diabetes is not a benign condition"
Gloyn wants to stress that diabetes is not a benign condition.
"The impact on people living with diabetes and their families is enormous", she underlines.
She finds it alarming to see the increasing number of children and adults around the world affected by the disease.
In the efforts to differentiate between the different subgroups of diabetes, and to find the correct diagnosis for every single individual, there is however a risk that we develop approaches which cannot be implemented in all health care settings which could lead to health disparities.
And that is one of Gloyn’s biggest concerns in today’s diabetes research:
"There is a danger that some populations and countries could be left behind", she says, and adds:
"International efforts like the NIDDK's Heterogeneity of Diabetes Global Coalition and the Precision Medicine in Diabetes Initiative are so important to ensure that we move forward in an equitable way and think carefully about the types of approach we deploy to ensure that they can work in lots of different healthcare settings", she says.
Gloyn’s overreaching goal for her research is precisely this. Not a better life for the few, but for all:
"I hope that my research will improve the lives for all people living with diabetes".
The Honorary Doctorate will hold a lecture at theFaculty of Medicine May 20th.
The Honorary Doctorate Promotion will be in the University Aula the following day, May 21st