As a part of our “Meet Yale Internal Medicine” series, today’s feature is on Ana Luisa Perdigoto, MD, PhD, assistant professor medicine (endocrinology).
In high school, Ana Luisa Perdigoto, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (endocrinology), was introduced to research science through an afterschool program created by a retired physicist from AT&T Bell Labs in Newark, N.J. The program was designed to help inner-city students gain exposure to academic science. Perdigoto fell in love with research and even had the opportunity to present her work at national meetings.
Her research at that time was very basic in nature, so when she got to Brown University for her undergraduate education, she was able to begin studying areas of biomedical science such as the pathophysiology of the Hepatitis B virus. She knew that she wanted to work in biomedical science and to have the ability to impact patient care directly.
It was during her undergraduate training that she became aware of the physician-scientist career and so after obtaining a bachelor of science in biochemistry, she went on to complete two years of HIV research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This solidified her commitment to the physician-scientist career path, and she then matriculated to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine for her MD/PhD degree.
At Vanderbilt, Perdigoto’s PhD thesis topic was in neuroscience, studying why axons cannot regrow after spinal cord injury. At this point in Perdigoto’s training, her research had covered many areas, but she remained committed to the translational potential of biomedical science.
Though her PhD had been in neuroscience, Perdigoto chose internal medicine for residency. It was during her clinical rotations in medical school when she discovered her love of taking care patients with multiple and often complex medical problems. She came to Yale for the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) in internal medicine. During her interview for residency, she remembers feeling like she could see herself here at Yale.
“The residents seemed genuinely happy to be training here, and I was drawn to the exceptional research opportunities,” recalled Perdigoto.
At the start of residency, she had not yet chosen between endocrinology and oncology.
She ultimately chose endocrinology because she was drawn to the “elegance of feedback pathways, the challenging diagnostic dilemmas and how the endocrine system impacts all organs of the body,” Perdigoto explained.
Her research as a young professor though, has taken an interesting turn and now seamlessly combines her two interests: endocrinology and oncology. She is currently focusing her research efforts on checkpoint inhibitor therapy-induced diabetes, and she sees patients both at the West Haven VA Medical Center and at the Yale Diabetes Center where she sees mostly type I diabetes patients and those who were diagnosed with diabetes after immunotherapy.
In 2021, Perdigoto received the Iva Dostanic Physician-Scientist Trainee Award. She believes the honor opened more doors for her and made people aware of her work. She was promoted to assistant professor of endocrinology on July 1, 2024.
Perdigoto remains inspired by “trying to understand things at a very fundamental level” and using that knowledge to help cancer patients who develop diabetes as a side effect of their therapy as well as individuals with spontaneous autoimmune diabetes. Most of the endocrine complications [from chemotherapy], including diabetes, are not reversible, unlike other adverse events such as colitis, for example,” explained Perdigoto.
She wants to help the patients whose lives have been turned upside down, not just by their cancer diagnosis, but now with a new diabetes diagnosis. “It’s so much for someone to handle,” Perdigoto empathized.
Now having been at Yale for over a decade, Perdigoto can say with confidence that Yale is a very supportive environment with a collaborative culture. She has been able to meet her career goals with the help of excellent mentors, including the chair of endocrinology, John Wysolmerski, MD, professor of medicine (endocrinology), her lab mentor, Kevan Herold, MD, C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunobiology and of Medicine (endocrinology), and her many collaborators, most notably in oncology. “Everyone has been encouraging me, opening doors, and watching out for me,” she said.
When it comes to advice for students, Perdigoto says to “keep an open mind, be willing to try different things, and follow your interests. You don’t have to know exactly what you want to do at the start. It’s the tools that you are gaining along the way that make the difference.”
The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, educators, and staff in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.