Translating Lifestyle-Intervention Efficacy Trials into Real-World Studies for Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Management through Implementation Science
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, USAChronic disease; Hypertension; Risk factors; Diet; Diabetes prevention; Lifestyle change; Diabetes and cardiovascular epidemiology; Implementation science; Prediabetes; Prevention; Primary care
Sathish Thirunavukkarasu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory School of Medicine. Sathish completed his Medical Degree, Diploma in Family Medicine, and Master's Degree in Public Health in India and received a PhD in Diabetes Epidemiology from the University of Melbourne in Australia. After his PhD, he did two years of Postdoctoral training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and three more years at McMaster University in Canada.
His primary research focuses on the epidemiology of type 2 diabetes and its prevention by developing novel interventions. He is also keen on translating the evidence from research into clinical and public health practice. Sathish has published research articles in very high-impact, leading medical and global health journals such as Nature Reviews Endocrinology, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, The Lancet Global Health, Diabetes Care, and PLoS Medicine as the lead author.
Despite two decades of diabetes prevention efforts through lifestyle interventions, effectively translating these initiatives into the wider community remains challenging. Unfortunately, few real-world studies have offered adequate information to accurately assess the overall impact of such programs. Consequently, the usefulness of many diabetes prevention trials in guiding resource allocation and real-world implementation is diminished. It is clear that more rigorous methods, particularly those employing implementation science, are necessary to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing the likely success of these interventions.
In response to this challenge, we welcome submissions from authors conducting research on real-world lifestyle intervention studies among adults with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, utilizing implementation science methodologies.