Amy Sanghavi Shah, MD, MS, FNLA

My interest in pediatric medicine began with the idea that diseases can be prevented and managed in childhood to avoid complications as adults. My career and research now focus on the complications of obesity in children and adolescents. Type 2 diabetes, cholesterol issues and blood pressure problems, once thought to be adult diseases, are also seen more and more often in young people with obesity.

Currently, my research focuses on obesity and Type 2 diabetes and their long-term health consequences. With my work, I try to determine how the complications of diabetes, including cardiovascular disease, start, and how diabetes increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. I hope to understand how to prevent Type 2 diabetes in adolescents and reduce health problems in the future.

I serve as the director of the Adolescent Type 2 Diabetes Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In this setting, my colleagues and I work as a team to discover the best medical treatments for youth with Type 2 diabetes. We have a comprehensive clinical team that includes gastroenterologists to assess for fatty liver disease, psychologists, nutritionists, certified diabetes educators and social workers. We also work with the bariatric surgery team to understand how bariatric surgery effects youth-onset Type 2 diabetes and its complications.

I have received several awards and honors, including:

• 2014 Young Investigator Award, The International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes
• 2015 and 2016 Young Investigator Award, The National Lipid Association
• 2016 Young Physician Scientist Award, The American Society of Clinical Investigation
• 2016 Early Career Development Award, The Central Society for Clinical and Translational Research
• 2020 Nominated as a Fellow of the National Lipid Association