Lessons from a long cohort study of diabetes in South Asia

EGDRC’s Dr. Shivani A. Patel leads research in Nature Medicine using the CARRS cohort—one of the first large, longitudinal studies in India’s megacities—to track laboratory-confirmed diabetes.

Key findings:

• Over half of adults in India’s megacities may develop diabetes.
• Risk factors appear well before diagnosis, emphasizing the need for earlier screening.
• Urban social, environmental, and behavioral factors strongly influence disease risk.
• The majority of type 2 diabetes (almost 80%) in South Asians is linked to innate insulin deficiency.

This research provides crucial, region-specific evidence to guide culturally relevant prevention strategies and inform health policy in South Asia.

Request for Proposals: Shankar Fellowship 2025 Cycle 

The Diabetes Translational Accelerator (DTA) supports Emory PhD students in turning research into real-world diabetes solutions. Through the Lakshmi and Subramonian Shankar Fellowship, students receive up to $45,000 per year for five years, with additional $75,000 Innovation Fund support for market-ready prototypes.

The fellowship is open to prospective applicants to Laney Graduate School’s PhD programs or current PhD students (first or second year) enrolled at Emory University. Student-Advisor teams are strongly encouraged to directly address one or more of the priority problems in diabetes identified by stakeholders in India and Rural Georgia. 

Application Deadline: Dec 15, 2025

Learn more or connect with us at egdrc.dta@emory.edu.

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Type 2 Diabetes Subtypes Classification: A Global Reckoning with Heterogeneity

Ram Jagannathan; Lisa R. Staimez; and Venkat Narayan

Type 2 diabetes is not one disease but a syndrome with distinct biological drivers. This study proposes a simplified framework using accessible clinical markers to move beyond the “one-size-fits-all” approach. This model lays the foundation for precision diabetes care—enabling tailored risk prediction, targeted therapies, and more personalized prevention worldwide.

Journal of Internal Medicine

Longitudinal Insights Into the Natural History of Type 2 Diabetes Among Koreans: A 20-Year Community-Based Prospective Cohort Study

bioRxiv

Gastrointestinal Delivery of mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles ASelectively Targets the Pancreas

Practice Journal of Alzheimer's Disease report

Association of Cardiovascular Disease with Dementia: A Longitudinal Analysis Using National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Data

Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Sndrome: A new frontier or simple Rebranding?

Jennifer Manne-Goehler; Willem Daniel Francois Venter; Mohammed K. Ali; Juan V. A. Franco

New Findings from the Kailuan Cohort: Tracking over 90,000 Chinese adults for 10 years, researchers found that long-term fasting blood glucose (FBG) patterns strongly predict cardiovascular disease risk. Individuals with high-stable FBG had a 58% greater risk, while even medium-stable levels showed elevated risk. Only stable normoglycemia was linked to the lowest CVD incidence—underscoring the importance of long-term glucose stability for heart health.