Dr. Richard Nathan Bergman is an internationally renowned expert in diabetes and obesity research who currently serves as Director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the prestigious Alfred Jay Firestein Chair in Diabetes Research and serves as Professor Emeritus in Cedars-Sinai's Department of Biomedical Sciences and Department of Medicine. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Bergman served as the Keck Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. His distinguished career spans more than four decades of groundbreaking contributions to understanding metabolic disorders. This transition to Cedars-Sinai marked a significant advancement in the institution's capacity to address the growing epidemic of diabetes and obesity.
Dr. Bergman pioneered the application of engineering technology to understand diabetes mechanisms through his development of the "minimal model," which describes insulin dynamics in the human body and has become the global standard for determining diabetes etiology. This mathematical framework integrates insulin secretion, insulin action, and other metabolic factors to create a comprehensive picture of metabolic function, with clinical testing using this model serving as the most powerful predictor of future Type 2 diabetes development. His laboratory made seminal contributions including the first demonstration of insulin's indirect control of liver glucose production and the importance of insulin transport mechanisms in insulin resistance syndrome. With over 400 peer-reviewed publications and more than 146,000 citations, his work has fundamentally transformed diabetes research methodology worldwide. He further developed the Disposition Index, a critical metric that has become a powerful predictor of diabetes risk across global research communities.
In recognition of his extraordinary contributions, Dr. Bergman received the Distinguished Leader in Insulin Resistance award from the Metabolic Institute of America, celebrating his unique scientific leadership in understanding insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes. His research has also elucidated important mechanisms including elevated nocturnal fatty acid levels in mediating diet-induced insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. As a senior leader in the field, Dr. Bergman continues to guide Cedars-Sinai's strategic initiatives in diabetes and obesity research amid what medical authorities describe as an epidemic level of these conditions in America. His leadership and research are invaluable to discovering new approaches for treating these serious public health challenges. Dr. Bergman's enduring scientific legacy continues to shape the trajectory of metabolic research and clinical practice worldwide.
