The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) has named Dr. med. Theresia Sarabhai as the recipient of its Rising Star Award 2023. In conjunction, Sarabhai also received a coveted EFSD Fellowship for her research on insulin resistance in adipose tissue.

The EASD Rising Star Award is a prestigious acknowledgement which honors young scientists who have made a name for themselves through outstanding contributions to diabetes research. This year, Dr. med. Theresia Sarabhai, Doctor at the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at University Hospital Dusseldorf and Research Physician at the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), was awarded the prize for her research analyzing the mechanisms on which insulin resistance in adipose tissue is based. As part of the Rising Star Symposium at the EASD Annual Meeting in Hamburg, she presented her research project “Identifying early pathogenesis of overnutrition-mediated adipose tissue insulin resistance in healthy humans” and was honored as the recipient of an EFSD (European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes) Fellowship worth 30,000 euros. She followed in the footsteps of her colleague Dr. med. Oana-Patricia Zaharia, who won the award in 2021, becoming the second scientist from Dusseldorf to receive this prize.

Outstanding Research
“The Rising Star Award is the EASD’s highest award for young talent and highlights the sustainable funding of our next generation in diabetology research and clinical practice,” said Professor Michael Roden, Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at University Hospital Dusseldorf and the DDZ. He added, “Dr. Sarabhai’s project will contribute to a better understanding of the development of type 2 diabetes and subsequently to the optimized prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

Prof. Tina Vilsbøll, from Denmark, presents Dr. med. Theresia Sarabhai with the Rising Star Award. © EASD

Award winner Dr. Sarabhai said: “I’m delighted to receive this award! My research under the supervision of Professor Roden has so far shown that a meal with a high fat content, regardless of the saturation of the fat, can trigger insulin resistance throughout the body. Thanks to the EFSD Research Fellowship, we’ll now look at the development of insulin resistance particularly in white adipose tissue, which can be triggered by high-fat overnutrition over three weeks. We’ll concentrate primarily on researching aspects of the pathogenesis of insulin resistance.”

DDZ Success at EASD 2023
At this year’s EASD Annual Meeting, the German Diabetes Center was represented by a delegation of more than 30 speakers and presenters, while DDZ experts chaired multiple sessions, including symposia. In the renowned Michael Berger Debate, Professor Roden presented on this year’s topic, “Is it time to reclassify diabetes complications because microvascular and macrovascular classification is no longer sufficient?”

Press contact:
Isabelle Keller 
Press officer DDZ
isabelle.keller(at)ddz.de  
+49 (0)211 3382-450 

The German Diabetes Center (DDZ) serves as the German reference center for diabetes. Its objective is to contribute to the improvement of prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus. At the same time, the research center aims at improving the epidemiological data situation in Germany. The DDZ coordinates the multicenter German Diabetes Study and is a point of contact for all players in the health sector. In addition, it prepares scientific information on diabetes mellitus and makes it available to the public. The DDZ is part of the Leibniz Association (Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, WGL) and is a partner of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.). www.ddz.de/en 

The German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) is a national association that brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and combines basic research, translational research, epidemiology and clinical applications. The aim is to develop novel strategies for personalized prevention and treatment of diabetes. Members are Helmholtz Munich – German Research Center for Environmental Health, the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden of Helmholtz Munich at the University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus of the TU Dresden and the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of Helmholtz Munich at the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen together with associated partners at the Universities in Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig, Lübeck and Munich. www.dzd-ev.de/en