A photo of Amy Shah.

Director, Adolescent Type 2 Diabetes Program

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

513-636-4744

513-636-7486

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My Biography & Research

Biography

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

Clinical Interests

Type 2 diabetes; obesity; primary and secondary lipid disorders; hypertension; general endocrinology

Research Interests

Type 2 diabetes; type 1 diabetes; cardiovascular risk factors; lipids and lipoproteins

Academic Affiliation

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Clinical Divisions

Endocrinology

Research Divisions

Endocrinology

My Locations

My Education

BA: Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2000. 

MD: St. George’s University Medical School, Grenada, West Indies, 2004.

Pediatric Residency: Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, 2007.

Endocrine Fellowship: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2010.

Research Fellowship: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2011.

MS: Clinical Research, The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2011.

Certifications: The American Board of Pediatrics, Subspeciality Board in Pediatric Endocrinology, Clinical Lipidology.

My Publications

Progression of Vasculopathy in Young Individuals with Turner Syndrome. Blunden, CE; Urbina, EM; Lawson, SA; Gutmark-Little, I; Shah, AS; Khoury, PR; Backeljauw, PF. Pediatric Cardiology. 2021; 42:481-491.

Markers of cholesterol synthesis are elevated in adolescents and young adults with type 2 diabetes. Semova, I; Levenson, AE; Krawczyk, J; Bullock, K; Williams, KA; Wadwa, RP; Khoury, PR; Kimball, TR; Urbina, EM; de Ferranti, SD; et al. Pediatric Diabetes. 2020; 21:1126-1131.

Dietary strategies to manage diabetes and glycemic control in youth and young adults with youth-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes: The SEARCH for diabetes in youth study. Sauder, KA; Stafford, JM; The, NS; Mayer-Davis, EJ; Thomas, J; Lawrence, JM; Kim, G; Siegel, KR; Jensen, ET; Shah, AS; et al. Pediatric Diabetes. 2020; 21:1093-1101.

Cardiovascular risk and heart rate variability in young adults with type 2 diabetes and arterial stiffness: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Shah, AS; Jaiswal, M; Dabelea, D; Divers, J; Isom, S; Liese, AD; Lawrence, JM; Kim, G; Urbina, EM. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications. 2020; 34.

Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Loss-of-Function Is Detrimental to the Juvenile Host With Septic Shock. Atreya, MR; Whitacre, BE; Cvijanovich, NZ; Bigham, MT; Thomas, NJ; Schwarz, AJ; Weiss, SL; Fitzgerald, JC; Allen, GL; Lutfi, R; et al. Critical Care Medicine. 2020; 48:1513-1520.

Youth sports participation and health status in early adulthood: A 12-year follow-up. Logan, K; Lloyd, RS; Schafer-Kalkhoff, T; Khoury, JC; Ehrlich, S; Dolan, LM; Shah, AS; Myer, GD. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2020; 19.

Circulating adhesion molecules and associations with HbA1c, hypertension, nephropathy, and retinopathy in the Treatment Options for type 2 Diabetes in Adolescent and Youth study. Tryggestad, JB; Shah, RD; Braffett, BH; Bacha, F; Gidding, SS; Gubitosi-Klug, RA; Shah, AS; Urbina, EM; Katz, LE L; Grp, TO D A Y S. Pediatric Diabetes. 2020; 21:923-931.

The association of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with elevated arterial stiffness in adolescents and young adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study. Gourgari, E; Stafford, JM; Jr, DR; Dolan, LM; Lawrence, JM; Marcovina, S; Merjaneh, L; Mottl, AK; Shah, AS; Dabelea, D. Pediatric Diabetes. 2020; 21:863-870.

55-OR: Cerebral Blood Flow Is Lower in Youth with Type 2 Diabetes Compared with Obese Controls. REDEL, JM; DIFRANCESCO, MW; LEE, GR; DOLAN, LM; SHAH, AS. Diabetes. 2020; 69:55-or.

Progression to hypertension in youth and young adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Koebnick, C; Imperatore, G; Jensen, ET; Stafford, JM; Shah, AS; Mottl, AK; Bell, RA; Dabelea, D; Liese, AD; Marcovina, SM; et al. Journal of Clinical Hypertension. 2020; 22:888-896.