Alberto Pugliese,

1987, M.D., University of Palermo, Italy

1987–1990, Residency (Specialist) in Diabetes & Metabolism, Post-Graduate School in Diabetes & Metabolism, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

Alberto Pugliese, M.D., has dedicated his career to understanding and curing type 1 diabetes. Now at City of Hope^® Cancer Center Duarte, he serves as the Samuel Rahbar Chair in Diabetes and Drug Discovery, chair of the Department of Diabetes Immunology, and director of the Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes within the Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute. 

Before joining City of Hope, Dr. Pugliese held multiple leadership roles in diabetes research and education at the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute, where he served as The J. Enloe and Eugenia J. Dodson Chair in Diabetes Research. He was a tenured professor of medicine in the Division of Diabetes Endocrinology and Metabolism and a professor of microbiology and immunology. He also served as deputy director for immune tolerance research at the Diabetes Research Institute, Leonard Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. 

Throughout his prestigious 35-year career, he has focused on uncovering how and why type 1 diabetes develops, from the earliest stages — even before symptoms appear — to life after diagnosis. Dr. Pugliese has made important discoveries about the genetics and immune system processes that contribute to type 1 diabetes. His research has led to improved ways to predict, understand and manage the disease, and he has played a key role in several major national and international clinical trials. 

He is a strong believer in collaboration to find answers and has helped lead many collaborative projects, including his role as executive co-director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors With Diabetes (nPOD), which shares donated pancreas tissue with scientists worldwide to accelerate discovery. He has served on research grant review committees of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the JDRF and other funding organizations internationally. Dr. Pugliese also served as chair of the American Diabetes Association's Grant Review Panel and as a steering committee member of the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, a clinical trial network funded by the NIH. 

Originally from Italy, Dr. Pugliese earned his medical degree at the University of Palermo and later trained at top institutions in the United States, including Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School and the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Pugliese is excited about the future. "Searching for a cure is a core value that is strongly footed at City of Hope, at the Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute," he says. "I’m excited by the opportunity to work together on a shared vision for a world-class type 1 diabetes program with strong translational goals, and to advance type 1 diabetes research through strategic and scientific innovation, with a strong emphasis on collaboration, toward a cure.”