Dr. Hertzel Gerstein

Dr. Hertzel Gerstein devotes his career to searching for the causes of diabetes and finding better ways to prevent and treat it.

As principle investigator on four ongoing randomized controlled trials and a co-investigator on eight other large studies, the McMaster University professor focuses his research on the prevention and treatment of diabetes, dysglycemia or any type of abnormal glucose, and their consequences.

His influence and reputation in the field of diabetes research has grown throughout the past 20 years, as he takes on more leading roles in the fight to help prevent and manage a disease that is estimated to affect three million Canadians.

He is the Canadian leader and an international principle investigator of the ongoing North American ACCORD trial of 10,000 individuals, including 1,440 in Canada. With more than $20 million from the National Institutes of Health in the United States, Dr. Gerstein is working with academics from across Canada and the United States to determine if aggressively controlling the blood sugar, blood pressure and triglyceride levels of adults with diabetes can reduce their risk of heart disease, stroke and death.

“Type 2 diabetes accounts for a large portion of all heart attacks, strokes, deaths and other health problems in Canada,” says the professor in the departments of medicine and clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. “This study will clearly determine the role of intensive glucose, blood pressure and lipid control as a way to safely reduce these consequences.”

ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) will be completed in 2009.

Dr. Gerstein is also the Population Health Research Institute Chair in Diabetes Research, director of McMaster’s division of endocrinology and metabolism, and director of the Diabetes Care and Research Program and of the endocrinology service at Hamilton Health Sciences. He says he has been interested in hormonal diseases since graduating as a doctor from the University of Toronto in 1981.

“I’ve always found endocrinology very interesting, and diabetes is a ubiquitous endocrine problem,” he says. “Moreover, insulin is a fascinating hormone, and is at the centre of a range of metabolic disorders.”

Two other major trials led by Dr. Gerstein, in collaboration with McMaster professor Dr. Salim Yusuf, are the DREAM (Diabetes Reduction Approaches with Medications) trial and the ORIGIN (Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention) trial.

Launched in 2000, the $25-million DREAM study involves more than 5,000 patients worldwide, in a clinical trial testing the possibility that the drugs ramipril and rosiglitazone can prevent type 2 diabetes. The trial is due to wrap up in less than two years.

The ORIGIN trial, which is currently recruiting 10,000 participants internationally, will determine if glargine, a new insulin preparation, and/or omega 3 fatty acids reduces cardiovascular episodes in people with diabetes or those who are likely to develop it.

“Both trials are going very well, and will provide important information regarding whether or not novel medications can both prevent and treat dysglycemia and its consequences,” he says.

Dr. Gerstein won both the Canadian Diabetes Association Young Scientist Award, and the Frederick G. Banting Award in 1999. Other past accomplishments include launching Diabetes Hamilton in 2000, a unique public health approach to provide both patients and caregivers with better information on managing the illness.

Dr. Gerstein has published more than 100 papers, mainly on diabetes-related issues.

In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Gerstein did his residency in internal medicine at the University of Toronto Hospitals, and earned his MSc degree in Design, Measurement and Evaluation from McMaster in 1989.

For further information, please contact Dr. Hertzel Gerstein using the Email contact form or by phone at 905 521-2100 ext 3371