Rising Star Fellowship Winners, Dr Matthew Johnson and Dr John Dennis

Two Exeter diabetes researchers named "Rising Stars"

Two researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School have been recognised as rising stars in diabetes research.

Dr Mathew Johnson and Dr John Dennis have been awarded the Rising Star award from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). The awards, made under the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes Rising Star Fellowship Programme and supported by global healthcare company Novo Nordisk, are designed to fund selected research projects of promising and innovative young researchers.

Dr Matthew Johnson, research fellow in the University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, was selected for his project “Identifying novel genetic causes of diabetes to give insights into mechanisms of beta cell autoimmunity”.

Dr Johnson said: “I’m thrilled to have been awarded the rising star fellowship. It’s a real honour, especially as this year two awards have gone to researchers from Exeter which shows the continued strength and breadth of diabetes research here. The funding from this award will allow me to identify new genetic causes of autoimmune diabetes, which will have a massive impact for the affected families but critically will give us new insights into how more common autoimmune type 1 diabetes develops.”

Dr John Dennis, senior research fellow in the University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, was awarded the EASD Rising Star Fellowship for his project “Individual-level cardiovascular & heart failure risk stratification to inform precision SGLT2-inhibitor treatment”

Dr Dennis said “It’s a tremendous honour to have been awarded the EASD Rising Star Fellowship. Funding from this European award will support exciting Exeter-led research to improve the clinical care of people with type 2 diabetes by better understanding the benefits and risks of different type 2 diabetes drug options. A key outcome of the project will be the development of a decision support tool to help health professionals optimise treatment decisions, and target specific diabetes medications to people with type 2 diabetes most likely to benefit.”

Date: 23 June 2022