Denise Faustman
Denise Faustman, M.D. is a U.S. physician and medical researcher. An Assoc. Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, her work specializes in the finding of a cure for juvenile diabetes (type I diabetes). She has worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since 1985.
She has become noted for her unconventional approach to diabetes research. Although much of the current research on juvenile diabetes centers on emerging technologies such as stem cell research, Dr. Faustman's work centers on the transplanting of islet cells, a technique she pioneered in mice. By using this technique, she was able to successfully cure Type I diabetes in mice. As part of her research, she was able to block the tendency of white blood cells to destroy healthy islet cells in the pancreas by supplying the white blood cells with a specific piece of protein. Part of the treatment she developed calls for the use of BCG, an relatively inexpensive drug that can be administered on an outpatient basis. BCG helps kill white blood cells that would otherwise kill healthy islet cells.
In her research with female mice, Faustman found that once the attack of the white blood cells was held in check, the islet cells in the pancreas regenerated, supplied by cells in the spleen, a fact that would mean that transplantations of islet cells are perhaps not necessary. Her findings were published in 2001 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Faustman's unconventional approach has resulted in a recurring difficulty to secure funding for her research. As of 2004, it is unclear if Faustman's approach will work in human beings. Former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, whose wife died of diabetes complications and who has declared a desire to see the disease cured in his lifetime, is a patron of her work. He has since given her funds in order to allow her to pursue drug thearapies and clinical trials in humans.
Faustman was profiled in the New York Times on November 9, 2004.