As members of the faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, members of the Diabetes Center are dedicated researchers as well as physicians. In fact, we treat research as a major part of our profession.

Currently, staff members of the Diabetes Center are participating in vital new research that promises to improve patient care. These include testing new delivery systems for insulin therapy and investigating new ways of managing insulin therapy.

The physicians of the Diabetes Center also work closely with other researchers, including Dr. Derek LeRoith, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at Mount Sinai. Dr. LeRoith is one of the world’s leading diabetes researchers.

Before joining the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2005, Dr. LeRoith was Chief of the Diabetes Branch at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. This is the largest program devoted to the study of diabetes within the intramural program of the NIH.

Dr. LeRoith has published over 500 original research papers, reviews and editorials. He has edited a number of books on Diabetes and IGF-related topics. He is also the senior editor of a major textbook on Diabetes, now in its third edition.

As medical staff members of a major treatment and research  center, we are free to conduct research and to consult the very latest results from all medical specialties including our own.  This only enhances patient care.

Every day of the year, the observations we make while treating patients are shaped into questions that are then tested through our research.  Outcomes from our research then guide the individualized care we provide to every patient.

Results from our investigations are also shared with physicians worldwide through publication in peer-reviewed medical journals.

The result: We’re able to deliver tomorrow’s medicine today.

Because of the superb reputations of our world-renowned endocrinologists and their colleagues in subspecialties including cardiology, ophthalmology, nephrology, geriatric medicine, and rehabilitation medicine, patients frequently travel to The Mount Sinai Medical Center from long distances for accurate diagnosis and careful, thorough treatment of diabetes and related disorders.

At the Diabetes Center, we have made it a point to develop close professional relationships with Mount Sinai specialists in cardiology, vascular surgery, ophthalmology, neurology and nephrology. In this way, routine early referrals are never a problem, and we also have the benefit of specialty patient care from world-class experts in their fields.

Like the other chronic diseases, diabetes usually doesn’t “go away.” No matter your age or level of activity, early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes is critical to living a productive life. Studies – including our own investigations -- show that early and aggressive treatment can help limit complications such as diminished vision and circulation problems, and help ward off end-stage kidney disease Our goal is to keep patients active and healthy.  Timely treatment also helps avoid other potential complications, and may help delay or avoid the need for surgery.

On a typical set of visits, depending on the diagnosis and on individual needs, a patient may meet with a coordinated team of physicians and other healthcare professionals ranging from cardiologists and kidney specialists to nutritionists and podiatrists.

Routine access to so many qualified professionals is one of the major benefits of seeking specialized healthcare in a large multidisciplinary center like The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

We base our diagnosis and treatment efforts on the needs of our patients. Older patients are well served at The Mount Sinai Diabetes Center. Because older Americans are more likely to suffer from hypertension and heart disease in addition to diabetes, we place a strong clinical and research emphasis on serving the needs of older people with diabetes and other diseases. This means that we frequently take a multidisciplinary, team approach to caring for our patients.

Patients with diabetes requiring acute hospitalization for treatment are admitted to The Mount Sinai Hospital where physicians from the Diabetes Center work with multidisciplinary treatment teams to ensure that our patients’ medical, nutritional, and psychological needs are met during their hospital stay as well as after discharge.

Current advancements in research – including the study of new drug therapies and biological treatments -- mean that more people with diabetes are living healthier and more fulfilling lives.

The Diabetes Center team provides a full range of treatment and services to our patients:

• Conventional insulin therapy
• Intensive (multiple daily) insulin therapy
• Insulin pumps
• Continuous glucose monitoring system
• Diabetes education
• Nutritional counseling
• Stress management
• Treatment for diabetes-related blood lipid disorders (high cholesterol, etc.)
• Organ transplant-related diabetes
• Referrals to related specialists to manage diabetes-related conditions early

All treatment at the Diabetes Center FPA is tailored to a patient’s diagnosis, which is determined through laboratory testing and other diagnostic procedures. During evaluation, we also take into account severity of disease, the patient’s age and overall level of health, as well as other factors that affect both treatment and compliance.

Generally speaking, treatment here can range from specifying diet changes and establishing a weight loss program for pre-diabetic patients, to the administration of medications to control blood glucose metabolism. For type 1 patients, the routine management of insulin administration is based on the patient’s individual health profile and lifestyle preferences.

We also work with non-drug therapies that can range from referrals to physical therapy and massage to stress reduction and biofeedback techniques. These help our patients better manage their disease.

A valuable member of the Diabetes Center specializes in educating patients about their diabetes. As a certified nurse-practitioner in diabetes our adult nurse practitioner and certified diabetes educator ensures that you’ll learn all you need about the many “little things” that every diabetic patient must remember to properly manage diabetes and prevent or delay complications.

Each of us at the Mount Sinai Diabetes Faculty Practice Associates is proud to be in the forefront of treatment and research. However, equally important to us is the knowledge that we provide care in a cheerful, dignified, and respectful manner to all our patients.

The Diabetes Center has a long and prestigious history at Mount Sinai. One of the first physicians active in the study of diabetes, Julius Rudisch, devised the first standard test for detecting sugar in the urine in his laboratory at Mount Sinai. The year was 1875.

In 1917, under the direction of Dr. Arthur Bookman, a Diabetes Center was formally established at the Mount Sinai Hospital, in Dr. Bookman’s words, “ to give intensive treatment along the most scientific lines to patients suffering from diabetes, nephritis [kidney disease], and other chronic disorders.”

At this point, the only treatment used for diabetes was severe dieting, feeding patients only enough food their bodies could metabolize.  The result was that most patients frequently died from malnutrition within a year of beginning “therapy.”

It wasn’t until 1922, when the function of insulin production in the pancreas was discovered by Canadian physicians, that a viable treatment for diabetes was developed.

The year 1946 was a landmark one, for endocrinologists and for patients suffering from diabetes. That’s the year in which Dr. Henry Dolger, head of the Diabetes Clinic, published a paper stating that injected insulin only treated the symptoms of diabetes, but did not address its root cause. In the paper, Dr. Dolger also identified the correlation between duration of diabetic disease and its negative effect on vision. This paper was responsible for prodding physicians internationally to continue their research into the cause of diabetes and to develop better treatment strategies.

A half-dozen years later, Dr. Dolger was one of the first physicians to begin using oral drugs for the treatment of diabetes. In 1959, Dr. Dolger wrote a book for patients, titled, How to Live with Diabetes. The book was translated into many languages and went through multiple printings. Dr. Dolger spent his entire career at Mount Sinai. He founded the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and also served as president of the New York Diabetes Society.

Even as Dr. Dolger was writing his consumer book on diabetes, the noted Mount Sinai endocrinologist and “diabetologist” Dr. Max Ellenberg, a specialist in the neurological complications of diabetes, along with Dr. Harold Rifkin, wrote the medical textbook, Diabetes Mellitus: Theory and Practice. The book was soon regarded as the “bible” of diabetic care. In 1974, Dr. Ellenberg became president of the American Diabetes Association.