Elbert Huang

Elbert Huang, MD, is a professor of medicine, director of the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy and associate director of the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research at the University of Chicago. From 2010-2011, he served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Huang is a general internist who studies clinical and health care policy issues at the intersection of diabetes, aging, and health economics.  His main research focus is in the area of medical decision making for elderly patients with type 2 diabetes where uncertainty exists regarding how to best individualize diabetes treatments based on clinical parameters and patient preferences.  His prior and ongoing research has influenced care recommendations for older patients with diabetes.  Apart from his work in geriatric diabetes, Dr. Huang has also performed other seminal translational diabetes research in the area of cost-effectiveness analysis.  In 2008, Dr. Huang led a widely cited study that forecasted the growth in the diabetes population and related health care costs over the next 25 years.  He has also led economic evaluations of community-based diabetes initiatives, clinic quality improvement programs, new diabetes technologies (continuous glucose monitoring), and the application of basic scientific discoveries (genetic testing).

Dr. Huang’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Diabetes Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  He has received numerous honors including the Research Paper of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine and elected membership to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.