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LSU Health Sciences Center

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Faculty

William T. Cefalu, MD
Professor and Section Chief
On a clinical level, Dr. Cefalu is interested in clinical interventions to improve the metabolic state of individuals with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. On a basic level, he is interested in cellular mechanisms for insulin resistance. Dr. Cefalu is the Director for an NIH-funded Center for the Study of Botanicals and Metabolic Syndrome at Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) and the Director of the LSUHSC-PBRC Joint Diabetes Research program.

 

Robert Richards, MD
Associate Professor
Dr. Richards is an attending physician in the Diabetes, General Endocrinology and Private Endocrinology Clinics. He also serves as Director of the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Fellowship program, and lectures students and house staff on topics of general endocrinology.

 

 

Gabriel Uwaifo, MD
Associate Professor
Dr Uwaifo’s clinical interests span the wide area of endocrine disorders with special emphasis on diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other aspects of the metabolic syndrome. He is an experienced Clinical trialist whose research interests include the recognition and management of pre-diabetes states as well as the pharmacotherapeutics of diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

 

 

Karen Friday, MD
Associ ate Professor of Clinical
Karen E. Friday, MD, is a physician with expertise in the areas of endocrinology, women’s health, lipid metabolism, preventive cardiology and nutrition. She earned her medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Friday then completed a residency in General Internal Medicine at Baltimore City Hospitals/Francis Scott Key Medical Center/John Hopkins University and a senior research fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle.  Dr. Friday served as the Clinical Core Director of the Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health from 1999 to 2006.

 Stefany Primeaux, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
Dr. Primeaux investigates models of diet-induced obesity.  Her research interests include fatty acid sensing by the tongue, brain peptides involved in feeding behavior and the interaction of reproductive hormones and brain peptides involved in feeding behaviors. 

 

 

 

Yvonne Melendez, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Melendez serves as Director of the SHAP/Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic MCLNO.  Her clinical interests include diabetic peripheral neuropathy, diabetes and pre-diabetes, and obesity.

 

 

 

Taniya DeSilva, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Taniya de Silva is a Board Certified physician in internal medicine and endocrinology.  She is a graduate of New York Medical College, completed her residency at Boston Medical Center and her endocrinology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.  At the University of Massachusetts, Dr. de Silva worked in the general endocrine clinic where she performed thyroid ultrasounds and fine needle aspiration biopsies of the thyroid.  She also worked in the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence and staffed a transitional diabetes clinic for adolescents with diabetes.  Dr. de Silva treats patients with a broad range of endocrine disorders with a particular interest in thyroid disorders and diabetes.

 

Lan Chi Luu, PhD
Instructor of Research
Currently, Dr. Luu is researching type 2 diabetes metabolic risk factors among members of the New Orleans Vietnamese community.  Dr. Luu also serves as President of the Community Empowerment Service Agency (CESA), a not-for-profit agency serving the multi-ethnic communities of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes in the areas of Health & Wellness, Workforce Training & Development, and Education.

Scharalda G. (Shelley) Jeanfreau, D.N.S, F.N.P-B.C.
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Dr. Jeanfreau is an Assistant Professor of Nursing and Director of the Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner Program in the  LSUHSC School of Nursing and serves as Clinical Assistant Professor and Nurse Practitioner for the Section on Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Her clinical interests include patient responses to diabetes self-care, patient education and diabetes in men.

 

 

 Fellows

Robert Dubin, M.D.
Dr. Dubin attended the Medical School at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Vermont in Burlington. He then spent the next 7 years practicing Internal Medicine in Venice, Florida and working with the Florida State University School of Medicine. Dr. Dubin has always focused his medical interests in the areas of endocrine and metabolism, and accepted the position at LSUHSC for the high quality faculty and staff, and the research opportunities available through the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

 

Kamran Rasul, M.D.
Dr. Rasul received his education at the King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan. After completing a rotating internship in Medicine and Surgery at Mayo Hospital in Lahore, he worked as a Primary Care Physician with the Hassan Hospital and Punjab Health Department. In 1996 Dr. Rasul began a residency position in Internal Medicine at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.  Dr. Rasul will complete the second year of his fellowship at LSUHSC in the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Section during the 2011 - 2012 Fellowship Program.