Dr. Bruce A. Perkins

Dr. Bruce Perkins is Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. He obtained his MD and Internal Medicine training at the University of Toronto, his endocrinology subspecialty training at Harvard University, his Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a research fellowship in epidemiology at the Joslin Diabetes Center.

Using longitudinal cohort and clinical trial methodology and motivated by major gaps in the management of type 1 diabetes, his research is focused on:

The Diagnosis and Prediction of Diabetic Neuropathy. [Funding: CDA, JDRF, NIH] Injury to peripheral nerves is the most common diabetes complication but lacks a valid and feasible biomarker to identify early disease and its progression. He has worked to in vivo Corneal Confocal Microscopy, a novel technique that non-invasively images the health of small nerve fibres that terminate in the cornea of the eye. He leads an NIH-funded consortium project to establish its role as a clinical and research endpoint.

Diabetic Kidney Disease Prediction and Identification of Novel Causative Factors and Interventions. [Funding: JDRF, NIH] His work has helped to create a new paradigm for nephropathy - where early renal function loss, not albuminuria, is the primary disease process leading to advanced kidney disease. Examination of this new model has identified novel causative factors including uric acid that has been implemented in a NIH-funded international randomized controlled trial lead by the Preventing Early Renal Loss (PERL) Consortium. He also explores mechanisms of complications by way of studying people with type 1 diabetes with greater than 50 years of diabetes duration (www.diabeteslongevity.ca).

Novel Glycemic Intervention for Type 1 Diabetes. [Funding: CDA, CIHR-SPOR, CIHR, Boehringer-Ingelheim] Despite major advances in the nature and delivery of intensive insulin therapy, only a small proportion of patients achieve their targets. Dedicated to this fundamental challenge, he aggressively examines the use of non-insulin glycemic therapies that are currently available to patients with type 2 diabetes (such as SGLT2 inhibition), and makes novel contributions to existing models for the Artificial Pancreas.

He serves as a member of the Steering Committee and Chair, Microvascular Complications on Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee, leads the CIHR/SPOR-funded Diabetes Action Canada Clinical Trials Goal Group, and was the recipient of the Canadian Diabetes Association – Canadian Institutes of Health Research 2015 Young Scientist Award.