Rexford S. Ahima

Last updated
Rexford Ahima
Born
Rexford Sefah Ahima

NationalityAmerican-Ghanaian
Alma materAccra Academy (1976; 1978) University of London (B.Sc.,1981)
University of Ghana (M.D.,1986)
Tulane University (Ph.D,1992)
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine.
Institutions Johns Hopkins University
University of Pennsylvania
Harvard University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Rexford Sefah Ahima is a professor of medicine, Public Health and Nursing; Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Diabetes at the Johns Hopkins Medical School; and the Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. [1] Ahima's research focuses on central and peripheral actions of adipocyte hormones in energy homeostasis, and glucose and lipid metabolism. [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Rexford Ahima had his high school education at Accra Academy in Ghana. He gained a Bachelor of Science degree in Endocrinology from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London in 1981. He received his M.D. from the University of Ghana Medical School in 1986 and a Ph.D. from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1992. Ahima had his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Jack D. Weiler Hospital and Jacobi Medical Center in New York. Ahima did his clinical and research fellowship training in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

At Harvard, he had his research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey S. Flier, after which he served as an instructor in medicine at Harvard before moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. He became a tenured professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and was the Director of Obesity Unit, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism and Director of Diabetes Research Center Mouse Phenotyping Core.

In 2016, Ahima joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Diabetes with appointments in the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was also appointed Leader of the Johns Hopkins University Diabetes Initiative and Director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. [3]

Research

Dr. Ahima's laboratory investigates CNS and peripheral actions of adipokines in energy homeostasis, and glucose and lipid metabolism. He has performed seminal studies to define the roles of leptin, adiponectin and resistin in obesity and diabetes using genetic techniques and metabolic phenotyping of mouse models. Moreover, he is involved in clinical and population studies focusing on the pathogenesis of obesity and Diabetes.

Awards and distinctions

Ahima was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020, [4] [5] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023, the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2005, the Association of American Physicians in 2010), [6] the Interurban Clinical Club, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Physicians, and the Obesity Society. He is a past associate editor of the journals Gastroenterology, Molecular Endocrinology , Endocrinology , and Endocrine Reviews. He was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. [6] [7] He is currently the editor of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Year in Diabetes and Obesity. [8] [9]

Publications

Ahima has more than 55,000 citations in Google Scholar and h-index of 93 [10]

Books

Highly Cited Articles (more than 1300 citations)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leptin</span> Hormone that inhibits hunger

Leptin also obese protein is a protein hormone predominantly made by adipocytes. Its primary role is likely to regulate long-term energy balance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adipose tissue</span> Loose connective tissue composed mostly by adipocytes

Adipose tissue is a loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes. It also contains the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of cells including preadipocytes, fibroblasts, vascular endothelial cells and a variety of immune cells such as adipose tissue macrophages. Its main role is to store energy in the form of lipids, although it also cushions and insulates the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resistin</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Resistin also known as adipose tissue-specific secretory factor (ADSF) or C/EBP-epsilon-regulated myeloid-specific secreted cysteine-rich protein (XCP1) is a cysteine-rich peptide hormone derived from adipose tissue that in humans is encoded by the RETN gene.

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a health science-focused research center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and conducts clinical, basic, and population science research. It is the largest academically-based nutrition research center in the world, with the greatest number of obesity researchers on faculty. The center's over 500 employees occupy several buildings on the 222-acre (0.90 km2) campus. The center was designed by the Baton Rouge architect John Desmond.

Adipose tissue is an endocrine organ that secretes numerous protein hormones, including leptin, adiponectin, and resistin. These hormones generally influence energy metabolism, which is of great interest to the understanding and treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Daniel Willett Foster was the John Denis McGarry, Ph.D. Distinguished Chair in Diabetes and Metabolic Research and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. He was Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine for 16 years. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. He was a Master of the American College of Physicians. He was also a former member of the President's Council on Bioethics.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Flier</span> American physician

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Bernhard Ludvik is a Specialist in Internal Medicine, board certified in Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. He serves as the Deputy Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the General Hospital Vienna.

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Michael Warren Schwartz is Robert H. Williams Endowed Chair, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington and Director of the UW Medicine Diabetes and Obesity Center of Excellence. He is the Director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of Washington. His research investigates brain mechanisms governing energy balance and glucose metabolism and how obesity and diabetes result from impairment of these brain systems. He has published more than 200 articles and book chapters related to these topics and his research has been continuously funded by the NIH since joining the faculty of UW 18 years ago. Dr. Schwartz is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the Western Association of Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, is the recipient of the 2007 Williams-Rachmiel Levine Award for Outstanding Mentorship from the Western Society for Clinical Investigation, the 2006 Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diabetes Research from Columbia University, and was the 2012 Solomon A. Berson Lecturer for the American Physiological Society, among other awards. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Physiology, Endocrine Reviews, Molecular Metabolism and Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen O'Rahilly</span> Irish-British physician and scientist

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References

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  2. "Rexford S. Ahima". Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
  3. 1 2 Messersmith, Julie. "Rexford Ahima named Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins", JHU Hub, Baltimore, 23 February 2016. Retrieved on 23 February 2016.
  4. Wasta, Vanessa (2020-10-19). "Four from Johns Hopkins Medicine elected to the National Academy of Medicine". The Hub. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  5. "National Academy of Medicine elects 100 new members". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  6. 1 2 "Rexford S. Ahima elected as JCI Editor in Chief". The American Society for Clinical Investigation. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  7. Ahima, Rexford S. (2022-02-01). "Ayekoo! — Well done!". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 132 (3). doi:10.1172/JCI158278. ISSN   0021-9738. PMC   8803334 . PMID   35104809.
  8. "Rexford S. Ahima - Faculty Directory". Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  9. Murphy, Anar (2018-03-26). "Ann NY Acad Sci Special Issue The Year in Diabetes and Obesity". Advanced Science News. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  10. "Rexford Ahima". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  11. "Can the Obesity Crisis Be Reversed? | Johns Hopkins University Press Books". jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-11.