Welcome to EndocriNEWS

Our Duke Hospital clinic remains an important hub of activity, but the trend nationally is for academic medical centers to locate in areas near where our patients live, and this has been successful for us. We remain the largest endocrinology group in the state of North Carolina and serve a wide catchment of patients, so have plans to expand further, likely east to Wake County. Essential in this strategy of course is a steady, reliable source of talent, and that is our superpower. Between our fellowship program, which mints two or three excellent endocrinologists each year, the Duke Physicians Assistants Program, still number one in the country, and the Duke School of Nursing, with a specialty track in Endocrinology, we have access to a superb pool of outstanding people to attract to our program. We may not be quite on par with Coach Scheyer’s basketball recruitment, but I think we are catching up.

Because there is a relative shortage of endocrinologists in our area, there is considerable demand for our services and a responsibility that is central to our mission. To expand our reach and ability to triage patients effectively we have developed an e-consult service across Duke Health to communicate directly with referring providers. This has allowed us to prioritize people with the most urgent needs and also to co-manage a large percentage of patients with primary care and other services.

Endocrinology remains an esoteric area of medicine to many of our colleagues, and the ability to easily interact through our EMR portal allows us to extend our expertise easily and quickly. Our next step is to build this service out to include referring clinics outside the Duke system, where the need for endocrinology support is also pressing. In the long-term we would like to be able to provide virtual inpatient diabetes consultation to hospitals in the area that do not have endocrine providers on staff.

The advent of drugs for diabetes and weight loss based on the incretin system has been one of the major advances in endocrinology over the past 10 years. This has become an area of strength for the division, both clinically and in research. Several members of our basic research faculty have robust programs in incretin biology and investigators at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute, where our lab space is located, are internationally recognized for their work in this area.

In addition, a number of Division members have been involved in key clinical trials of emerging GLP-1 receptor agonists. As a group we have considerable experience using these new drugs to treat diabetes, and Duke endocrinologists with special training in obesity medicine have started clinics to treat people with co-morbidities of extreme body weight. Drug development based on the incretin system is projected to be a growth area for the foreseeable future, with new more potent and accessible agents becoming available. We feel well-positioned to contribute to this endeavor across the preclinical and translational spectrum, as well as playing a leading role in the application of new drugs to clinical care.

Although our group has grown steadily in numbers, its quality remains second to none. The members of Duke Endocrinology are an excellent bunch, notable for kindness, dedication and cohesion. No matter what any workday brings, I am thankful for being part of such a wonderful team.

Hope you are well. Drop by and see us next time you are in town.

David D'Alessio, MD
Division Chief
Director, Duke Outpatient Clinic
Principle Investigator, T32 Fellowship Research Program

Kreider, Kathryn. “Integrating Diabetes Technology into Primary Care,” AANP Continuing Medical Education. (Enduring CME: July 2024-December 20250. 

Jeevananthan, Athavi, Alexopoulos, Anastasia-Stefania, Goldstein, KM., Moreno, AC. “Provider Perceptions of Menopause Care in Primary Care, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Endocrinology.” Poster presentation at the Menopause Society 2024 Conference, Chicago, IL, September 12, 2024 

Todd Frieze. “Graves’ disease.” Presentation at Mid Atlantic Society of Endocrinologists (MASE) and Southern Society of Endocrinologists (SSE). Washington, DC October, 2024 

Kreider, Kathryn. “Seeds of Change: Expanding the Endocrinology Workforce.” DiabetesMine Innovation Summit. San Diego, CA. [Presentation + Panel Discussion] November 2024. 

Leonor Corsino. Served as a guest speaker at the annual event at the U.S. Capitol Dominicans on the Hill on higher education. February 11,2025. 

Spratt Susan, McPeek–Hinz E, Casey M, Kinard T, Hondos E, Davis G. Leveraging electronic health record clinical decision support to connect patients with health–related social needs. Health Services Research Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network. San Diego in February 2025 

McPeek–Hinz E, and Spratt Susan. Evaluating hospital discharge meals on wheels program for patients with food insecurity/malnutrition risk. Health Services Research. Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network. San Diego in February 2025. 

Todd Frieze. “Graves’ Disease” The Southern Society of Endocrinologists (SSE). Memphis TN. March 2025.  

Todd Frieze. “Update in Thyroidology” The Southern Society of Endocrinologists (SSE). Memphis TN. March 2025 

Nicole A. Arrato; Gretchen G. Kimmick; Heidi K. White; Harvey J. Cohen; Leonor Corsino; Rebecca A. Shelby. Examining the Impacts of Comorbid Breast Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes: Results from a Brief Geriatric Screening. American Geriatric Society Annual Meeting. May, 2025. 

Bell, Liz. New Diagnosis Dm2: What to do first. AANP Continuing Medical Education. AANP National Conference, San Diego. June 2025 

Bell, Liz. EDKA from SGLT2i: More common than we thought. AANP Continuing Medical Education. AANP National Conference, San Diego. June 2025 

Kreider, Kathyrn & Munger, Tanya. Top Secret Endocrinology Tips for Primary Care (Endocrine Bootcamp). AANP National Conference, San Diego. June 2025 

Leena Shahla. Acromegaly: Overview of Disease Awareness Oral presentation at the Florida Endocrine Association Meeting July 2025

• Casey MR, Spratt Susan. Practice Advisories to Identify Prediabetes and Diabetes. Epic User Group Meeting. Verona, Wisconsin. August 2025 
• Koehler A, Weinhold A, Parnell HE, Kelley Carly. Establishing cross-continental registries to improve gender-affirming care- Duke Research for Equitable Access to Medicine and its potential for international collaboration. Oral presentation European Professional Association of Transgender Health Scientific Meeting, Hamburg, Germany, expected September 2025. 
• Misakian AL, Ariel D, Sullivan EA, Singh G, Loeb DF, Strickland T, Iwamoto SJ, Rothman MS, Botzheim B, Liang JW, Kelley Carly, Hamnvik OPR*. Injectable Estradiol for Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy Effectively Suppresses Testosterone Concentrations. Oral presentation for USPATH Meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. (* authors contributed equally)
• Kelley Carly, Merritt J, Cunningham H, Deterville V, Holliday CM, Williams A, Wilson J, Weinhold A, Tice L, Salgado GN, Whetten K. Duke Research for Equitable Access to Medicine (DREAM) Engage: Prioritizing the Voices of Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons When Conceptualizing the Next Generation of Research Questions. Oral presentation for USPATH meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. 
• Kelley Carly, Burgoon S, Cunningham H, Jones Q, Kapoor S. Venous Thromboembolism Risk in Transgender Patients on Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy: A Retrospective Analysis. Oral presentation for USPATH meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. 
• Kelley Carly, Young K, Weinhold A, Balu S, Parish A, Niedzwieki D, Parnell H, Dinani A. Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease and Gender Affirming Testosterone Therapy. Oral presentation for USPATH meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. 
• Jones Q, Holiday K, Weinhold A, Carlson S, Parnell H, Agrawala S, Kelley Carly. Characteristics of Transgender and Gender Diverse Patients Interested or Unsure About Fertility Preservation Compared to Those Not Interested. Oral presentation for USPATH meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. 
• Carly Kelley and Danit Ariel. Latest Developments in Research in Transgender Health. Plenary Session for USPATH meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM expected September 2025. 
• Leonor Corsino to moderate Endocrine Society Clinical Endocrinology Update Diabetes sessions. October 23-25, 2025. 
• Jennifer Green, American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2025 meeting in Houston: Session Title: Incretin-Based Therapies in Nephrology. Lecture: “GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Landscape: From Single to Triple-G Therapies and Beyond” (expected Nov 2025)