This week's faculty spotlight shines on Dr. Ranee Chatterjee, Assistant Professor of Medicine. We talk to Chatterjee about her clinical work, research interests, and diabetes prevention.
How long have you been at Duke? How long have you been at the Division? I returned to Duke in 2011 after having graduated from medical school here many years ago.
What does a typical day for you at the Division look like? My days are very varied which keeps things from getting boring! I balance clinical responsibilities as an internist at Sutton Station Internal Medicine, with my research responsibilities which include my own research in diabetes prevention, as well as helping to facilitate clinical research in primary care clinics through my work with the Primary Care Research Consortium, headed by Rowena Dolor and Chip Walter.You’re involved in a the D2d study, a clinical trial to examine the links between vitamin D prevention and diabetes. Can you tell me more about that research? The D2d study is a multi-center randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to determine once and for all whether or not vitamin D helps prevent type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients who have prediabetes. The coordinating center is Tufts University and Anastassios Pittas is the study PI. This trial randomizes participants to 4000 iu of vitamin D or placebo and follows them for about 3 to 4 years for the development of diabetes. While we won't have results back for some time now, through the conduct of this trial, I have learned the difficulties of recruitment of this patient population--lessons that I will be able to use as I conduct my own studies.
Besides diabetes, what are your other areas of interest? For my own research, I am most interested in diabetes prevention. As a clinical internist, I am interested in all fields of medicine that can help my patients.
What’s one thing you like to do when you’re not at Duke? I love spending time with my family-- especially husband, 2 daughters, and my parents. I am learning to tend to our pet chickens, and I enjoy exercising and art in my spare time.