Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine to host 13th annual Boshell Research Day on March 20

The 13th annual Boshell Research Day, scheduled for March 20 at the Marriott Resort at Grand National in Opelika, Alabama, will bring together experts from around the U.S. to discuss current topics related to diabetes and the role of obesity in its development.

This year’s program will feature addresses from world-renowned speakers including: Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at the Harvard University Medical School and chief academic officer for the Joslin Diabetes Center; Dr. Donald Scott, professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Ellen Gustafson, businessperson and sustainable food system activist, founder of the 30 Project and co-founder of FEED Projects. In addition to these featured speakers, participants will attend both oral and poster presentations and have opportunities to network with fellow conference attendees.

Faculty from the College of Veterinary Medicine and nine other colleges and schools across the Auburn University campus will join Boshell Research Day participants from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Vanderbilt University, Georgia State University and the Louisiana State University Pennington Biomedical Research Center for the one-day symposium.

Established in 2001 through an endowment by the Diabetes Trust Fund in honor of its founder Dr. Buris R. Boshell, a 1947 Auburn University graduate, then Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the Boshell Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Research Program aims to improve life for all people with diabetes.

Through research focused on the prevention, cure and management of diabetes and its complications, Boshell researchers address many facets of both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Currently, more than 55 investigators from 10 different academic units across the Auburn campus hold Boshell membership and are actively involved in diabetes research, principally focused on the cardiac, neurological and metabolic aspects of the disease.

Dr. Robert Judd, chair of Auburn’s Boshell Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Research Program and professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, advances the Boshell mission of expanding and enhancing cross-disciplinary research opportunities, both on Auburn’s campus and at other institutions.

“Here at Auburn, we are attacking this disease from all directions through a variety of basic and clinical studies,” Judd said. “Research Day provides an important opportunity for us to bring together researchers and medical professionals from across the U.S. to discuss diabetes, obesity and their treatments.”

Registration for the 13th annual Boshell Research Day is available through March 13. The conference is open to the public at a cost of $125 for all non-Boshell member attendees, and no charge for current students, postdoctoral fellows and Boshell members.

For more information or to register for Boshell Research Day, visit the website at www.aub.ie/diabetes  or email Robert Judd at juddrob@auburn.edu.