New York Regional Diabetes Research Center Receives $10M Award from NIH

Expanded Regional Center Co-Led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Weill Cornell Medicine

BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $10.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create the New York Regional Diabetes Research Center (NYR-DRC), a newly expanded multi-institutional center co-led with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell Medicine. The center will focus on discovering scientific knowledge and translating it into improved care for people with diabetes and related metabolic diseases.

"This expanded center promises to strengthen our ongoing efforts to develop novel therapies to prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes, restore beta cell function and insulin secretion in both type 1 and 2 diabetes, and prevent and treat diabetic complications," said Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology, the Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Professorial Chair in Diabetes Research at Einstein, director of NYR-DRC, and principal investigator on the grant.

Einstein established its first diabetes center nearly 50 years ago, in 1976, in response to the increasing prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes cases in the Bronx and surrounding areas. In 2015, Einstein partnered with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to create the Einstein-Mount Sinai Diabetes Research Center, greatly increasing the center's ability to support research studies and services. This new grant includes Weill Cornell Medicine as a third partner and has been renamed to reflect its regional reach. This new effort will further expand the scope and size of the center, growing to more than 140 scientists and clinicians, and establish a regional hub dedicated to diabetes research, education, and training.

"This expanded regional collaboration marks an exciting step forward in accelerating diabetes research and innovation," said Andrew F. Stewart, M.D., director of the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "By combining the complementary strengths of three world-leading institutions, we can more effectively translate fundamental discoveries in beta cell biology and regenerative medicine into new therapies that have the potential to transform the lives of people living with diabetes." Dr. Stewart is also the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine.

The strengthened NYR-DRC also includes members at Cornell University, NYU Langone Medical Center, Stony Brook University, New York Medical College, and Rutgers University. Together, they hold more than $100 million in grant funding.

"We are delighted to partner with Einstein and Mount Sinai to advance this regional effort," said Shuibing Chen, Ph.D., Kilts Family Professor of Surgery and director of the Center for Genomic Health at Weill Cornell Medicine. "At Weill Cornell, we have been developing human organoid and stem cell platforms that model diabetes and its complications. Integrating these organoid systems into the New York Regional Diabetes Research Center will provide powerful tools to uncover disease mechanisms, accelerate therapeutic discovery, and potentially improve the lives of people with diabetes."

The center will work to attract, mentor, and retain research investigators; foster collaborations locally and regionally; and reduce the time it takes to move scientific findings from the laboratory to the bedside. It will also provide state-of-the-art core services focusing on animal physiology, stable isotope and metabolomics, human islet cells and adenoviruses, human therapeutic organoids, and translational research. 

In addition, an administrative core will continue to support a pilot and feasibility studies program aimed at helping several different types of diabetes center members: junior investigators who want to shift from mentor-based research to independent careers, center members wishing to explore a new area of research substantially different from their current work, established faculty in other areas who wish to switch to diabetes research, and faculty investigators developing new techniques and technologies that will enhance research progress.

The grant (P30DK020541-50), titled "New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research," was awarded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the NIH.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2025-26 academic year, Einstein is home to 681 M.D. students, 226 Ph.D. students, 126 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 250 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2024, Einstein received more than $192 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in cancer, aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and view us on YouTube. 

About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is internationally renowned for its outstanding research, educational, and clinical care programs. It is the sole academic partner for the seven member hospitals* of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the largest academic health systems in the United States, providing care to New York City's large and diverse patient population. 

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers highly competitive MD, PhD, MD-PhD, and master's degree programs, with enrollment of more than 1,200 students. It has the largest graduate medical education program in the country, with more than 2,700 clinical residents and fellows training throughout the Health System. Its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers 13 degree-granting programs, conducts innovative basic and translational research, and trains more than 560 postdoctoral research fellows. 

Ranked 11th nationwide in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is among the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. More than 4,500 scientists, educators, and clinicians work within and across dozens of academic departments and multidisciplinary institutes with an emphasis on translational research and therapeutics. Through Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), the Health System facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of medical breakthroughs made at Mount Sinai.

* Mount Sinai Health System member hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital; Mount Sinai Brooklyn; Mount Sinai Morningside; Mount Sinai Queens; Mount Sinai South Nassau; Mount Sinai West; and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.

About Weill Cornell Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians in New York City and around the world. The doctors and scientists of Weill Cornell Medicine—faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization—are engaged in world-class clinical care and cutting-edge research that connect patients to the latest treatment innovations and prevention strategies. Located in the heart of the Upper East Side's scientific corridor, Weill Cornell Medicine's powerful network of collaborators extends to its parent university Cornell University; to Qatar, where Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar offers a Cornell University medical degree; and to programs in Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Weill Cornell Medicine faculty provide exemplary patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Weill Cornell Medicine is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.

SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine