Controversies In Diabetic Neuropathy

Nigel Calcutt is Professor of Pathology at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Calcutt took his B.Sc. in Zoology at Nottingham University, England and then a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology while working in the laboratory of David Tomlinson. He performed post-doctoral research in the Departments of Pharmacology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and Anesthesiology at the University of California San Diego, before being appointed to the faculty of the Department of Pathology at UCSD. Dr. Calcutt first began studying nerve damage caused by type 1 diabetes in 1983 as an undergraduate, with a largely unsuccessful but nevertheless enlightening attempt to generate diabetic chickens. Undeterred by his paltry progress with poultry, he has continued to investigate mechanisms of diabetic neuropathy and neuropathic pain throughout his scientific career, with a particular interest in developing therapies than can be translated to clinical use. Dr. Calcutt has published over 100 research articles in this area and is funded by the National Institutes of Health for whom he serves on grant review and other administrative panels. Dr. Calcutt has also performed a number of roles for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, including membership of the Medical and Scientific Review Panel, Diabetic Complications Innovative Grants Review Panel (Chair) and Diabetic Complications Research Portfolio Advisory Committee (Chair).

Paul Fernyhough performed his B.Sc. degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Essex and PhD in biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry at University of Sheffield in the UK. He also performed postdoctoral research at Colorado State University, Kings College London and as a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow at St Bartholomew’s Medical College. Dr. Fernyhough worked for 51⁄2 years (1998-2004) as a tenured lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences (now the Faculty of Life Sciences) at the University of Manchester. In 2004 Dr. Fernyhough set up a neuroscience research group at St Boniface Hospital Research Centre in Winnipeg, Canada with strong links with the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Fernyhough’s general research interest is in the cell biology underlying neurodegenerative disorders of the peripheral and central nervous systems with a focus on the impact of diabetes.