Kevan C. Herold, MD, C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunobiology and professor of medicine (endocrinology) at Yale School of Medicine, has been named chair of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) TrialNet, an international consortium dedicated to finding ways to prevent, delay, and slow progression of the disease, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy insulin-producing cells. TrialNet is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Herold’s research is in translational immunology, through which he seeks to understand the basis for autoimmune diseases such as T1D and their mechanisms, and uses that knowledge to develop new therapies. That work includes a focus on understanding how beta cells, which synthesize and secrete insulin, are destroyed and react to inflammation. He also cares for patients through Yale Medicine, Yale School of Medicine’s clinical practice.
“We are in a new era in the treatment and prevention of Type 1 diabetes,” says Herold. “For the first time, we have been able to effectively delay the disease in those at risk. I am very honored to be leading this group that we hope will find ways to make Type 1 diabetes, one of the most frequent childhood illnesses, a disease of the past.”
Herold, who became chair on June 1, is just the third person to hold that position since TrialNet was founded as the Type 1 Diabetes Prevention Trial (DPT-1) in 1993. He follows Jay Skyler, MD, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who served from 1993 to 2015, and Carla Greenbaum, MD, of Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle, who succeeded Skyler in 2015.
It is estimated that one in 300 school age children in American is at risk for Type 1 diabetes, which previously was known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes.