BCVS Early Career Development

Dale Abel is the William S. Adams Distinguished Professor and Chair Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine and Executive Medical Director UCLA Health. He graduated with Distinction from the University of the West Indies School of Medicine, obtained a DPhil from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, trained in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University, where he was chief resident and in endocrinology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical school. Dr. Abel was Chair of the Department of Medicine and Director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, holding the François M. Abboud Chair of Medicine, and the John B. Stokes III Chair in Diabetes Research. Dr. Abel has had a distinguished career in endocrine, metabolism and cardiovascular research. His pioneering work on glucose transport and mitochondrial metabolism launched his current research interests: molecular mechanisms responsible for cardiovascular complications of diabetes. His laboratory provided important and novel insights into the contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction, altered myocardial substrate metabolism and aberrant insulin signaling, to heart failure risk in diabetes. Recent work has focused on mitochondrial mechanisms that mediate inter-organ crosstalk that may influence the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and mitochondrial pathways linking metabolism with increased risk for atherothrombosis. Dr. Abel has published more than 270 peer reviewed publications in competitive journals, his work has been highly cited and has shaped much of current understanding of the metabolic mechanisms underlying heart failure, particularly in obesity and diabetes.

He has been recognized for a longstanding commitment to mentoring the next generation of biomedical scientists. He has served as the program chair for the annual Network of Minority Investigators workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders to increase the success of minority biomedical researchers. Since 2012, he has been a principal investigator for the Endocrine Society’s FLARE program, which has successfully increased the pipeline of underrepresented groups into productive careers in endocrinology and diabetes research. H has received mentorship awards from the University of Utah and the University of Iowa.

Dr. Abel has maintained NIH funding since 1995, and has received funding from the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. His many awards for scholarship and mentorship, include the Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award of the Endocrine Society, the 2018 African American Museum of Iowa History Makers Award. The Presidential Lecture, University of Iowa and the NIH Director's Astute Clinician Lecture. He is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. Abel is past President of the Endocrine Society and the Association of Professors of Medicine.