- Mark Atkinson (scientist)
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Mark Atikinson [[File: 
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Nationality American Fields Medical research, Type 1 Diabetes Institutions University of Florida College of Medicine Dr. Atkinson is currently an Eminent Scholar for Diabetes Research at The University of Florida. He also is the co-Director for The Diabetes Center of Excellence at that institution. The author of over 250 publications, Dr. Atkinson is beginning his 28th year of investigation into the field of type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes. Dr. Atkinson has been the recipient of multiple scientific and humanitarian based awards for these efforts. These include three from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). The first was the Gerold and Gayla Grodsky award (2001) provided to the outstanding Ph.D. investigating type 1 diabetes. He is a two time recipient of the Mary Tyler Moore & S. Robert Levine M.D. award for translational research on type 1 diabetes (2004 and 2008). Finally, he was the recipient of the JDRF’s Rumbough award for contributions to diabetes research (2005). Dr. Atkinson was also a recipient of the prestigious Eli Lilly Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (2004), a rare honor in type 1 diabetes from that organization. He has also been active in a leadership service to the type 1 diabetes community, with active administrative or advisory service to JDRF, The American Diabetes Association (ADA), The National Institutes of Health, The Immunology of Diabetes Society, and a variety of companies from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
Dr. Atkinson is also one of nine members of the Brehm Coalition for Type 1 Diabetes Research, as well as one of four initial members of the Helmsley Trust’s Type 1 Diabetes Research Initiative. He has served on the state, regional, as well as the national Board of Directors for the ADA, as well as past-memberships on their publications, scientific sessions planning, research review committees. He is currently an Associate Editor of the ADA’s Journal Diabetes, and Chairs two national expert panels seeking renewal of the congressionally awarded, special funding for type 1 diabetes research. Dr. Atkinson is an internationally recognized authority on multiple aspects pertaining to type 1 diabetes, with particular interests in disease prediction and prevention, the role for environment in the initiation of the disease, stem cells and pancreatic regeneration, and the identification of markers of tolerance and immunoregulation. Dr. Atkinson has been the recipient of numerous funding awards, with his program the current recipient of approximately $6.0M in annual extramural funding, and contributes to a total of nearly $15M per year in diabetes-related research funding at his home institution. He is a Charter member of the NIH’s Immune Tolerance Network Scientific Advisory Board as well as a member of NIH TrialNet, chairing its prioritization committee[1]
Dr. Atkinson is currently the executive director for nPOD.[2]
Please click here to view a PDF of Dr. Atkinson's Curriculum Vitae.
Humanitarian Interests
Dr. Atkinson is also well known for spending time with persons with or caring for those with type 1 diabetes, addressing their questions and sharing his passion and desire to see a cure for the disease. This effort often calls upon his sharing a lay friendly public presentation on, ‘How Type 1 Diabetes Develops and Where Are We in Terms of Finding a Cure for this Disease?’. Indeed, he routinely provides lay lectures to a variety of groups intested in type 1 diabetes, most notably, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The American Diabetes Assocation.
Dr. Atkinson has been quite active in terms of encouraging improvements in diabetes care and management in third world nations whose access to insulin and other materials/education are limited. This includes efforts with the group Life for a Child, for which Dr. Atkinson has interacted with on behalf of the Haitian Foundation for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases (Fondation Haitienne de Diabete et de Maladies Cardio-Vasculaires), overseen by Dr. Nancy Larco.
Beyond this, Dr. Atkinson and his wife recently started a foundation for humanitarian causes, Hope on the Move.
Selected publications
Yip L, Su L, Sheng D, Pearl C, Atkinson M, Czseak M, Albert P. R, Collier A, Turley S J, Fathman C G, Creusot R J. (2009). Deaf1 isoforms control the expression of genes encoding peripheral tissue antigens in the pancreatic lymph nodes during type 1 diabetes. Nature immunology, 10:1026–1033.
Atkinson MA, Gianani R. (2009). The pancreas in human type 1 diabetes: providing new answers to age-old questions. Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity, 16(4), 279-85.
Bierschenk L, Alexander J, Wasserfall C, Haller M, Schatz D, Atkinson M (2009). Vitamin D levels in subjects with and without type 1 diabetes residing in a solar rich environment. Diabetes Care, 32(11), 1-3.
Lowe CE, Cooper JD, Brusko T, Walker NM, Smyth DJ, Bailey R, Bourget K, Plagnol V, Field S, Atkinson M, Clayton DG, Wicker LS, Todd JA. (2007). Large-scale genetic fine mapping and genotype-phenotype associations implicate polymorphism in the IL2RA region in type 1 diabetes. Nature Genetics, 39(9):1074-82.
Vaarala O, Atkinson MA, Neu J. (2008). The “perfect storm” for type 1 diabetes: the complex interplay between intestinal microbiota, gut permeability, and mucosal immunity. Diabetes, 57(10):2555-62.
Parker MJ, Xue S, Alexander JJ, Wasserfall CH, Campbell-Thompson ML, Battaglia M, Gregori S, Mathews CE, Song S, Troutt M, Eisenbeis S, Williams J, Schatz DA, Haller MJ, Atkinson MA. (2009). Immune depletion with cellular mobilization imparts immunoregulation and reverses autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice. Diabetes.[3]
References
Categories:- Living people
- American medical researchers
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