Prominent diabetes researcher chosen to lead A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute

Diabetes and obesity researcher Charles Burant, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the new director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at Michigan Medicine.

He succeeds distinguished neurology professor Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., who for 10 years served as founding director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, the only organization of its kind created expressly to support medical doctors who also perform research in the quest for new treatments and cures.

Through the gift of A. Alfred Taubman and the generous contributions of others, the Institute has created a community of scholars who work collaboratively to advance discovery in many medical fields.

Burant is Michigan Medicine’s Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor of Metabolism endowed chair, and professor of internal medicine in the department of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes. He also is a professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology in the U-M Medical School, as well as in the U-M Schools of Public Health and Kinesiology.

Burant developed and is director of the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center, which provides infrastructure and expertise for researchers across the country to perform basic and clinical research in metabolism, obesity and diabetes.  His personal research program studies how individual differences in metabolism affect longevity and risk for metabolic diseases, spanning the range from basic to translational to clinical research.

“Dr. Burant will be instrumental in implementing the strategies and priorities of the Taubman Institute. His broad expertise, experience in creating collaborative research teams, and commitment to discovery and innovation will help propel the Taubman Institute to new heights in research discovery to advance the understanding of health and disease, leading to new medical treatments,” says Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the U-M Medical School, and executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan (umich.edu/).

“We remain very grateful to the Taubman family for their continued support to make new discoveries possible.”

Burant earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He then completed a residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and a fellowship in endocrinology at the University of Chicago before joining the U-M faculty in 1999.

About Michigan Medicine: At Michigan Medicine, we create the future of healthcare through the discovery of new knowledge for the benefit of patients and society; educate the next generation of physicians, health professionals and scientists; and serve the health needs of our citizens. We pursue excellence every day in our three hospitals, 125 clinics and home care operations that handle more than 2.1 million outpatient visits a year. The U-M Medical School is one of the nation’s biomedical research powerhouses, with total research funding of more than $470 million.
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