Precision diabetes care, built on genetics, physiology, and patients.
We're a physician-scientist-led research team bridging human genetics, deep phenotyping, and clinical care to improve how diabetes is detected, classified, and treated.
Aaron Leong, MD, MSc
Physician, Division of Endocrinology & Division of General Internal Medicine, MGH
Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Dr. Aaron Leong is an endocrinologist and physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, with clinical expertise in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and general endocrinology. His research aims to advance precision diabetes by integrating human genetics, physiology, and healthcare implementation to improve disease detection, classification, prevention, and treatment.
Using ancestrally diverse cohorts, biobanks linked to electronic health records, and recall-by-genotype study designs, his research team investigates the biological mechanisms underlying diabetes and related metabolic disorders — combining genetic epidemiology, causal inference, deep physiological phenotyping, and clinical investigation to bridge genetic discovery with patient care.
Dr. Leong serves on the Executive Committee of the Boston Area Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center (BADERC) as Associate Director, directing its Pilot and Feasibility Program and BADERC-Broad Collaborative Grant Program. He is Principal Investigator of the MGH site for the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Study — the long-term follow-up of the landmark DCCT — and holds collaborative roles across DEFINE-T2D, PRIMED, MAGIC, DIAMANTE, and TOPMed.
Clinical trials, coordination, and computation.
Griffin Duffy, BSN, RN
Griffin is a research nurse in the Diabetes Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and comes from previous work in neurology clinical trials at MGH. Griffin is delighted to be a part of the PROGRESS study and enjoys the process and exploratory nature of clinical trials as a research nurse. In his spare time, Griffin loves to read, stay active, and play the guitar.
Rachel Bartholomew
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator currently working on the EDIC and DPPOS studies at the Diabetes Research Center. Over the past several years, she has worked on various research studies related to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes at MGH. She has personal connections to diabetes and hopes that by being a part of studies related to the disease, she can help lead to the betterment of everyone living with it. In her free time, she loves hanging out with her partner and 2 cats, along with biking to and from work.
Nopporn (Nop) Thangthaeng, PhD, NP
Tara Bresnahan, BSN, RN
Tara Bresnahan is the Nurse Director at the MGH Diabetes Research Center, Co-Chair of the MGH Clinical Research Nurse Collaborative, and long-time active member of the MGH clinical research community. Her experience includes physician-initiated and FDA regulated clinical trials in areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, surgery, and oncology. She earned her MBA in healthcare administration, obtained certification as a clinical research nurse, and has previously worked as a study monitor. Outside of work, Tara enjoys spending time with her family.
Robin Azevedo, BSN, RN
Robin Azevedo is a Clinical Research Nurse at the Diabetes Research Center, working on multiple studies including EDIC, GO MOMs, DECIDE, Progress, as well as industry sponsored trials. As a former Labor & Delivery nurse, Robin's passion is improving the health and well-being of individuals and their offspring during and after pregnancy. Robin enjoys interacting with patients during their study visits, and aims to ensure participant safety and satisfaction during their research interactions.
Rachel Huynh
Rachel Huynh is a clinical research coordinator for the PROGRESS study. She began working at the Diabetes Research Clinic after graduating from Tufts University with a degree in community health. She has a strong interest in clinical research and its ties to public health. She is pursuing her medical degree at the UMass Chan Medical School.
Ravi Mandla
Ravi Mandla is a PhD candidate in Genomics and Computational Biology at UPenn. Prior to his graduate studies, Ravi was a researcher at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dhruv Gohel
Dhruv Gohel is a Master's candidate in Bioinformatics at Northeastern University. He is currently a Bioinformatics Research Co-op at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital, where his work focuses on large-scale genomics and computational biology.
Alana Fahey
Alana Fahey is a clinical research coordinator at the Diabetes Research Center, where she supports various studies including EDIC. She is passionate about the long-term management of type 1 diabetes and has a special interest in the history of diabetes care. One of her favorite parts of her job is hearing patients' stories and learning about how clinical research and advances in diabetes technology have shaped their experiences over the years. In her free time, Alana enjoys reading and spending time with her family.
Partners bridging genetics and the clinic.
Maheak Vora, MS
Maheak Vora, MS, is a Computational biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her work focuses on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) aimed at understanding the genetic underpinnings of type 2 diabetes. She works with Drs. Mercader and Leong on the TARGET (Targeted Assessment of participants through Recall by Genotype for Evaluation and Translation) — Diabetes study.
Josep M. Mercader, PhD
Josep M Mercader, PhD, is a researcher at the Diabetes Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Associate Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Core Member of the Broad Diabetes Initiative. His research involves the discovery and functional characterization of genetic variation associated with T2D and related traits in diverse populations. In collaboration with Aaron Leong and his team, they work together towards the translation of their findings to the clinic.
Alicia Huerta
Alicia Huerta-Chagoya is a research scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and an instructor in genetics at the Diabetes Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her current work aims to continue advancing the identification of genetic regions driving T2D susceptibility and leveraging it to make predictions about an individual's genetic predisposition to the disease, focusing on the Latin American population to help reduce health inequalities.
Hasan S. Dashti, PhD, RD, FASPEN
Hassan S. Dashti, PhD, RD, FASPEN is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is a registered dietitian and a research scientist with an interest in clinical nutrition, chronobiology, sleep, and genetics.
Vicky Kaur
Vicky Kaur is a Research Lab and Project Manager in the Florez lab, Center for Genomic Medicine at MGH. In her current role, she supports operational management of the lab, staff management, clinical study management, and assists with new protocol, grant, and manuscript submissions. She supports work projects at MGH and the Broad Institute.
Jessica Ruiz, MD
Dr. Jessica Ruiz is a pediatric endocrinologist, physician-scientist, and bioengineer at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on integrating continuous glucose monitoring and machine learning to advance precision medicine for children with or at risk of diabetes. She studies the inpatient management of glucose disorders and explores the use of diabetes technology in hospital settings to improve patient outcomes.
Christina Astley, MD, ScD
Christina Astley is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and physician-scientist in the Divisions of Endocrinology and Computational Epidemiology at Boston Children's Hospital. Her research focuses on the development of innovative methods to understand individual- and population-level disease dynamics (e.g. multiple omics, global digital health data streams).
Where they've gone since.
Sophia Anain
Former research assistant at the Diabetes Research Center. Studied Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University, with research experience in developmental psychology and forensic psychiatry. Now a Senior Analyst at Herspiegel, a healthcare and pharmaceutical consulting firm.
Avery Bullock, MD, MPH
Internal medicine resident within the Osler Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Completed her medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2024 and is pursuing a career in Geriatrics.
Kathy Chu
Former Senior Clinical Research Coordinator and Operations Specialist at Mass General's Diabetes Research Center. Received her master's degree in Genetic Counseling and continues her career in cancer genetics.
Edgar Dorsey Trevino, MD, MMSc
Second-year internal medicine resident at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). Has presented research at ASCO and earned national recognition, now pursuing a career as a physician-scientist focused on hematology/oncology.
Mariella Facibene
Worked at the DRC for two years, first as a Northeastern co-op student then as a Clinical Research Coordinator. Now pursuing her medical degree at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine.
Saadhvi Kartik
Worked at the DRC for two years as a Northeastern University co-op student and then a Clinical Research Coordinator. Now completing a Master's program at Tufts University in Biomedical Sciences.
Manvi Lohia
After working at the DRC as a Clinical Research Coordinator under Dr. Aaron Leong, now focused on Science to Plate, an evidence-based nutrition platform emphasizing gut, women's, and cardiac health.
Lauren Mendez
After a year at the DRC as a Clinical Research Coordinator and Northeastern University co-op student, now completing her medical degree at NSU Kiran C. Patel School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Zoe MacDiarmid
Sophomore in cell and molecular biology at Northeastern University and a research assistant for PROGRESS. Previously worked in a lab studying DNA repair mechanisms and volunteered as an EMT; currently an editor for Northeastern's independent newspaper.
Dang Van Khanh (Stacey) Nguyen
Fourth-year Psychology major at Northeastern University. Completed her first co-op at the DRC and is now in her second co-op at Boston Children's Hospital in the Division of Developmental Medicine, planning to further her education in mental health.
Grace Nobile
Worked with Dr. Leong in 2020 as a Clinical Research Coordinator Co-op from Northeastern University on the TARGET diabetes study. Recently started as a Research Specialist II in the Feghali-Bostwick Lab at the Medical University of South Carolina, working on therapeutics for organ fibrosis (IPF and SSc).
Mark O'Connor, MD
Endocrinologist at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, MA. Sees patients, teaches students and residents, and has been principal investigator for multiple studies on new diabetes technology and type 2 diabetes.
Julie Parikh
Co-op student working at the DRC as a clinical research assistant during her undergraduate career, then pursued a master's in biotechnology at Northeastern University. Currently working on a Bridge Project between the Koch Institute of MIT and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center on precision oncology through integrative functional genomics.
Philip Schroeder, MS
PhD student at MIT CSAIL in the Spoken Language Systems Group.
Nara Norgil
After working with Dr. Leong for two years, lived in India, Kenya, and South Africa for one year while earning a Master's degree in Global Health Policy. Now a medical student at St. George's University and an aspiring dermatologist, with research on disparities in access to dermatologic care in rural communities.
Abigail Jones, BS, Biochemistry, Northeastern University
Mary Banick, BS, Chemistry, Northeastern University