Two Q&A items of notes. Joselin Diabetes Center queires Allison Goldfine, M.D., head of Clinical, Behavioral and Outcomes Research. And the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science offers a Q&A with graduate Amy Kerdok, who is Clinical Development Engineer at Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, California.
First, Dr. Goldldfine:
What’s a recent success story?
There are many success stories. One story began with basic research by my collaborator, Dr. Steven Shoelson, which showed a link between inflammation and obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
In a national clinical trial that we reported last year, we showed that salsalate, an anti-inflammatory drug used for decades to treat arthritis pain, may be of benefit to treat patients with type 2 diabetes. During the trial, salsalate lowered blood sugar levels over three months. We’re continuing our clinical studies to see how the improvements last over a longer time interval to learn whether this arthritis drug should be used to treat patients with diabetes.
We have also launched a study called TINSAL–CVD to see if salsalate reduces the progression of coronary artery disease in patients with or without diabetes. (We’re enlisting volunteers right now.) We’ll use a remarkable new type of CAT scan to provide information on each individual’s heart health as the trial goes forward.
These salsalate studies are especially exciting as the drug is generic and inexpensive to manufacture. If we show it is safe and effective to treat diabetes or heart disease, the global health economic implications may be quite dramatic.
Switching tracks here, Kerdock develops “advanced visualization schemes, and robotic platforms that support and advance robotic surgery.”
It is my responsibility to investigate how surgeons use the da Vinci (surgical robot) and decipher their needs into engineering specifications. So I get to travel the U.S. and the world to observe people using the da Vinci in various surgical situations. I take what I see back to the home office’s engineering and marketing teams, where I help write the clinical requirements of our various products, platforms, and software, and compose and run validations in a lab to prove their safety and effectiveness before launch. I also get to help with training—so there is some teaching involved.
I love the diversity of my job: part clinical, part technical, part marketing, and part business.