Ravi Retnakaran

 Dr. Ravi Retnakaran is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an endocrinologist and clinician-scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, where he holds the Boehringer Ingelheim Chair in Beta-cell Preservation, Function and Regeneration. He was awarded the 2013 Dr. Charles Hollenberg Young Investigator Award by the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism and the 2014 Joe Doupe Award from the Canadian Society of Clinical Investigation. In 2020, he was named to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2022, he received the Diabetes in Women award from the International Diabetes Federation.

     His research program focuses on the pathophysiology and treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), with a particular interest in the potential reversibility of pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction early in the course of diabetes. In this context, his research group has been conducting a series of innovative clinical trials evaluating novel therapeutic strategies for the preservation of beta-cell function in early T2DM. In addition, his research program has championed the concept that a women’s gluco-regulatory response to the metabolic challenge posed by pregnancy can provide unique insight into her future risk of T2DM and cardiovascular disease and an opportunity for optimizing the long-term health trajectories of mother and child.