James S. Pankow

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Research Interests:
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes
Genetics of type 2 diabetes

Projects Underway: PI, Inflammatory Precursors of Type 2 Diabetes Study

The overall objective is to identify the contribution of selected components of the inflammatory response to the development of type 2 diabetes over the course of 3 to 9 years of follow-up in a population-based cohort of middle-aged African-American and white men and women.  The study includes 600 incident diabetes cases and 600 controls.  It will investigate whether novel risk factors measured such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, free fatty acids, acute phase proteins, markers of endothelial activation or dysfunction, and infections predict onset of type 2 diabetes.

Publications:

Sprafka JM, Pankow JS, McGovern PG, French LR.  Mortality among non-insulin dependent diabetic individuals and associated risk factors:  The Three City Study.  Diabetic Medicine 1993; 10: 627-632.

Stevens J, Couper D, Pankow JS, Folsom AR, Duncan BB, Nieto FJ, Jones D, Tyroler HA..  Sensitivity and specificity of BMI, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio for incident diabetes in a community-based, biracial cohort.  Obesity Research 2001; 11: 696-705.