Robert Ratner, M.D.

Robert E. Ratner, M.D., is Vice President for Scientific Affairs for the MedStar Research Institute in Washington, DC, and Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical School. He received his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he also completed his internal medicine training. His fellowship training in endocrinology and metabolism was completed at Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

Dr. Ratner is a principal investigator for the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and DPP Outcomes Study of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and serves on the planning and steering committees for the project nationwide. He chairs the Cardiovascular Working Group and the Outcomes Adjudication Committee and cochairs the Economic Analysis Committee of the DPP. He is also principal investigator of the SANDS (Stop Atherosclerosis Among Natives with Diabetes) Study of NIH. He currently serves on the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. His other research interests include diabetes and its complications and innovative therapies for diabetes, including in vivo islet neogenesis.

He is the author of over 90 original scientific articles and 16 book chapters. Dr. Ratner has served on the steering committee of the National Diabetes Education Program and the board of directors of the National Certification Board for Diabetes Education and the American Association of Diabetes Educators. He has also served as chair of the Government Relations Committee and the Pregnancy Council of the American Diabetes Association.