Alvin C. Powers, MD, Joe C. Davis Professor of Biomedical Science and professor ofMedicine, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, is stepping down as director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center (VDC), director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC), and chief of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, effective immediately.
Powers was named director of the DRTC in 2005, director of the VDC in 2007, and chief of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism in the Department of Medicine in 2010.
A nationwide search is underway for his successor. Powers will continue his research at Vanderbilt on the pancreatic islet and how islet dysfunction contributes to diabetes.
An interim plan has been announced to fill his roles in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism; an interim leadership plan for the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center (VDC)/Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) is being decided and will be announced at a later date.
“Dr. Powers’ impact on the Medical Center, the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism and the advancement of scientific inquiry in this field cannot be understated,” said Jane E. Freedman, MD, Gladys Parkinson Stahlman Professor of Cardiovascular Research and chair of the Department of Medicine. “We have begun a national search for a permanent division director, and in the interim, I’ve asked a few highly regarded faculty to serve in his divisional leadership roles until a successor is selected.
“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Gisella Carranza Leon will be the interim Clinical and Senior Division director, Dr. Lindsay Bischoff will be the interim Educational and Clinician Faculty Affairs Division director, and Dr. Fiona Harrison will be the interim Research Division director.”
Carranza Leon, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, is the medical director of Vanderbilt Eskind Diabetes Clinic and a member of VUMC’s Academy for Excellence in Clinical Medicine. She received her medical degree from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru; completed an internal medicine residency at University of Texas Southwestern, in Dallas; and completed a fellowship in diabetes and endocrinology at Mayo Clinic. Carranza Leon’s areas of interest and of clinical practice are obesity medicine and management of complex cholesterol disorders. She is a co-investigator on lipid related clinical trials.
Bischoff, professor of Medicine, director of the Endocrinology Clinical Fellowship Program is the medical director of the Vanderbilt Thyroid and Adrenal Center. She received her medical degree from Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia and completed her residency and fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Bischoff is a national and international leader in thyroid cancer, serving on multiple guideline committees.
Harrison, associate professor of Medicine, is director of the Vanderbilt Mouse Neurobehavioral Core and director of T32 Training Program in Environmental Toxicology. She is an animal behaviorist known internationally for her research on the impact of vitamin C and other nutrients on brain health. She mentors medical and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as undergraduates at Vanderbilt and other institutions. Harrison received her PhD in behavioral neuroscience at Cardiff University in Cardiff, Wales.
Vanderbilt has long been a leader in diabetes, metabolism and endocrinology, including inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research and training of the next generation of physicians and scientists. The DRTC includes 140 faculty members from 15 departments and three colleges or schools at Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical College who conduct basic, clinical and translational research on the cause, prevention, treatment and complications of diabetes and obesity.
The DRTC, the first National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded diabetes research center in the United States, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. Powers has led the competitive renewal of the DRTC program four times, most recently in 2021 with a five-year renewal of a $10.9 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“A big thank you to these faculty members for agreeing to take on these important divisional roles, and thank you to all faculty and staff members for your patience and assistance during this time of transition,” Freedman said.
