Immediate career goals that the Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio provides me the opportunity to pursue as a diabetes and cardiovascular epidemiologist, include training in statistical genetics and implementation of my own study. These skills are essential for my career development, my long-term career objective being to establish a solid independent research program as a genetic epidemiologist. The objective of the research project is to investigate and characterize intrauterine and early childhood exposures and their relationship to the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes in two ongoing studies, the San Antonio Family Diabetes Study (SAFDS) and the San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS). The SAFDS and the SAFHS are studies of low-income Mexican American families that combined include 2,361 adult participants from over 80 extended families. In each study, a standardized medical examination has been completed, including measurements of anthropometry and blood pressure, a fasting venipuncture and an oral glucose tolerance test. Moreover, in the coming months, a complete genomic scan of 400 highly polymorphic markers distributed throughout the genome at approximately 10 centimorgan intervals will be available on the vast majority of participants.
Specific aims of the proposed project include collecting self-reported information on breast-feeding from over 1600 participants and mother, reported information on an array of early life exposures on 999 participants. Mother-reported exposures of interest include duration of breast-feeding, maternal smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, gestational hypertension and/or diabetes during pregnancy, inter-pregnancy interval, and the time interval between pregnancy and future development of diabetes (among diabetic individuals). Research questions of interest include the association between early life exposures and adult obesity and diabetes, whether the heritability of diabetes and obesity is influenced by early life exposures that are themselves likely to be familial, and finally the identification of genes and gene by environment interactions related to obesity and diabetes. The proposed study, by combining previously collected information in two established studies with collection of information on early life exposures, bridges the gap between genetics and epidemiology, offering a unique training opportunity and an opportunity to further our understanding of obesity and diabetes.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01DK064867-05
Application #
7082911
Study Section
Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases B Subcommittee (DDK)
Program Officer
Hyde, James F
Project Start
2003-09-30
Project End
2008-06-30
Budget Start
2006-07-01
Budget End
2008-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$128,409
Indirect Cost
Name
Medical University of South Carolina
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
183710748
City
Charleston
State
SC
Country
United States
Zip Code
29425
Fowler, Sharon P; Puppala, Sobha; Arya, Rector et al. (2013) Genetic epidemiology of cardiometabolic risk factors and their clustering patterns in Mexican American children and adolescents: the SAFARI Study. Hum Genet 132:1059-71
Hardman, Kelly; Hunt, Kelly J; Carter, Rickey E et al. (2011) Diabetes management and vaccination rates in the Southeast United States, 2000 through 2007. Ethn Dis 21:13-9
Hunt, Kelly J; Gonzalez, Maria Elena; Lopez, Ruy et al. (2011) Diabetes is more lethal in Mexicans and Mexican-Americans compared to Non-Hispanic whites. Ann Epidemiol 21:899-906
Hunt, Kelly J; Conway, Deborah L (2008) Who returns for postpartum glucose screening following gestational diabetes mellitus? Am J Obstet Gynecol 198:404.e1-6
Lehman, Donna M; Richardson, Dawn K; Jenkinson, Chris P et al. (2007) P2 promoter variants of the hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha gene are associated with type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans. Diabetes 56:513-7
Lehman, Donna M; Hunt, Kelly J; Leach, Robin J et al. (2007) Haplotypes of transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene and its upstream region are associated with type 2 diabetes and age of onset in Mexican Americans. Diabetes 56:389-93
Hunt, Kelly J; Williams, Ken; Hazuda, Helen P et al. (2007) The metabolic syndrome and the impact of diabetes on coronary heart disease mortality in women and men: the San Antonio Heart Study. Ann Epidemiol 17:870-7
Hunt, Kelly J; Schuller, Kelly L (2007) The increasing prevalence of diabetes in pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am 34:173-99, vii
Lehman, Donna M; Hamlington, Jeanette; Hunt, Kelly J et al. (2006) A novel missense mutation in ADRB3 increases risk for type 2 diabetes in a Mexican American family. Diabetes Metab Res Rev 22:331-6
Hunt, K J; Hansis-Diarte, A; Shipman, K et al. (2006) Impact of parental smoking on diabetes, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome in adult men and women in the San Antonio Heart Study. Diabetologia 49:2291-8

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