About Our Research

The Diabetes Epidemiology and Clinical Research Section’s research focus is maternal child health in vulnerable populations. Our clinical research includes (1) examining intrauterine and early childhood risk factors for obesity and cardiometabolic disease (2) study of screening methods, and metabolic changes in youth with obesity and long-term risk of diabetes (3) behavioral interventions in minority youth to lower diabetes and cardiometabolic risk.

Obesity and type 2 diabetes risks are determined by a combination of biological and environmental factors the most prominent of which is exposure to diabetes in utero. The developmental origins of health and disease theory emphasizes that adverse environmental exposures during intrauterine and early life increases the risk for future obesity and chronic cardiometabolic diseases for the offspring. DECRS is currently conducting a longitudinal observational life course clinical trial titled “Early Tracking of Childhood Health Determinants (ETCHED)” study. The ETCHED study is supported by the NIDDK Intramural Research Program, and began enrolling participants in April 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. This life course study is establishing a cohort of primarily Hispanic and Indigenous American pregnant women, and their offspring to examine a combination of biological and environmental factors that impact childhood obesity and metabolic risk. Mothers are being enrolled in the study during pregnancy and the maternal/offspring dyad are followed until the offspring’s 18th birthday. Enrollment is planned for a 5-year period (April 2027), and then the study enters its follow-up phase, the total study duration for ETCHED is 23-years. The ETCHED study fulfills many of the research gaps in a grossly understudied minority population, including Hispanic and Indigenous American women, who already suffer from poor social determinants of health. In addition to epidemiological data, we also plan to utilize clinical and omics-based data and conduct integrated multi-omics analysis during pregnancy and the postpartum period to build prediction models to identify women and their offspring who are at the highest risk for obesity and metabolic dysfunction.