Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition
Division Overview
Our Division of Endocrinology provides the most advanced clinical care for endocrine diseases, is committed to training students, researchers, and physicians, and is strongly invested in basic and clinical investigations to advance our understanding and refine the therapy of endocrine diseases. Our physicians and scientists are passionate about changing how we treat endocrine diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and thyroid disease.
Please explore our website to learn about our division, and come to see us if you need dedicated and state-of-the-art medical care for an endocrine condition.
Christoph Buettner, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine and Chancellor Scholar
Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Nutrition
Vice Chair for Basic Research
About the Division of Endocrinology
The Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition provides care for patients with endocrine-related disorders, and diseases due to impaired hormone secretion or signaling. We are committed to training the next generation of endocrine specialists and researching prevention, causes, and treatments of endocrine and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.
The Division of Endocrinology is devoted to compassionate and state-of-the-art care of patients with endocrine diseases such as diabetes, obesity, disorders of cholesterol and lipid metabolism, pituitary and adrenal abnormalities, osteoporosis and other bone diseases, and thyroid and parathyroid disease.
Our tripartite mission is as follows:
- Provide state-of-the-art and comprehensive clinical service to our patients with endocrine disorders;
- Advance our understanding of diabetes and endocrinology through clinical and basic science research and
- Train physicians and other health care providers as well as researchers in the principles and practice of endocrinology.
Division Chief
Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD
Clinical Faculty
Louis F. Amorosa, MD
David Cohen, MD, FACE, FACP
Aviva Cohn, MD
Hyon Kim, MD
Sara E. Lubitz, MD
Anupam Ohri, MD, MBBS
Rashika Bansal, MD, DABOM
Ankit Shah, MD
Xiangbing Wang, MD, PhD
Faculty Emeritus
Stephen Schneider, MD
Research Faculty
Moshmi Bhattacharya
Xiaoyang Su, PhD
Kenichi Sakamoto, MD, PhD
Affiliated Faculty
Volunteer Faculty
Afshin Salsali, MD, FACE
Arthur Santora, MD
Advanced Practice Nurses
Deanna Bilotti, RN, APN, FNP
Jacqueline Plick, APN, CDE
Fellowship Details
Advance Your Career
The Endocrinology Fellowship Program aims to prepare our fellows to be competent and caring physicians and give them the skills to incorporate new knowledge and methods into their practice. Visit the Endocrinology Fellowship Program page for details on how to apply.
Subspecialty Clinics & Centers
The Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, in partnership with other departments within the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, has established the PROUD Gender Center of New Jersey, a first of its kind in the state to offer a broad range of services and experts specializing in LGBTQ health care in one central location.
The center features a highly experienced, multidisciplinary team specializing in transgender health that offers primary care, hormonal therapy, and surgical procedures to support the transition of transgender patients. In addition to medical services, the center offers support and education programs, as well as resources for the transgender community and its allies. David Cohen and Sarah Lubitz are the Division endocrinologists who run a fellow clinic that provides hormonal care to transgender patients in our community.
See news coverage about this groundbreaking partnership by ABC7 Eyewitness News.
Women's Health Clinic
Women’s Health Endocrine Clinic at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson
We care for women experiencing a wide range of hormone-related symptoms or conditions including:
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
• Menopausal symptoms
• Elevated prolactin levels
• Premature ovarian insufficiency
• Hypothalamic amenorrhea
• Thyroid disease in pregnancy
Hormonal changes can occur throughout a women’s life, leading to symptoms such as irregular menstrual cycles, elevated androgens or “male like hormones”, or low estrogen during menopause.Dr. Aviva Cohn, a board-certified endocrinologist with clinical and research expertise in women’s related endocrine disorders provides comprehensive care tailored to each patient.
What do irregular menstrual cycles mean?
During their reproductive years, monthly menstrual periods depend on a finely tuned balance of hormones as they cycle throughout the month. Persistent irregularity in the menstrual cycle can signal hormonal imbalance. At our women’s health clinic, we will perform a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and check relevant hormones to determine the underlying cause.
I think I have PCOS, what does this mean?
PCOS presents in many different ways. It is caused by hormonal imbalance that may result in:
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Elevated levels of androgens leading to acne, excess facial hair scalp hair thinning.
• Insulin resistance and weight gain
I am middle age and experience hot flashes that interfere with daily life. What can I do?
During the menopause transition, changes in reproductive hormones often cause hot flashes and other symptoms. These are common, but can be very debilitating. Effective treatments are available including both hormonal and non-hormonal options to help alleviate your symptoms.
If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment, call 732-235-7219.
Pituitary Center
The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is home to one of the only dedicated Pituitary Centers in New Jersey. Our multidisciplinary team of expert endocrinologists, neurosurgeons, and radiation oncologists provides comprehensive care for the full spectrum of pituitary disorders, including:
- Acromegaly
- Cushing’s disease
- Prolactinoma
- Pituitary tumors
- Hypopituitarism
We offer a wide range of advanced treatment options, including medical therapy, surgical intervention, and state-of-the-art stereotactic radiosurgery. Our endocrinologists specialize in managing the hormonal imbalances associated with pituitary disorders, tailoring medication regimens to each patient’s unique needs.
In addition, participation in clinical trials allows our patients access to novel and promising therapies while contributing to the advancement of pituitary disease research.
Through collaboration, innovation, and compassionate care, the Robert Wood Johnson Pituitary Center is committed to improving outcomes and quality of life for all individuals affected by pituitary disorders.
Transgender Center
Transgender Clinic
As part of the PROUD Gender Center of New Jersey, the Division of Endocrinology’s Transgender Clinic is dedicated to providing exceptional, compassionate and affirming care to our transgender and gender-diverse patients. Since its founding in 2020, our clinic has become the largest gender-affirming hormone therapy medical program in the region. We are honored to have been recognized by The Human Rights Campaign Foundation for our commitment to excellence in care, receiving the Leaders in LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equalityrecognition five consecutive times.
Our Services
We offer a comprehensive range of services to support patients throughout every stage of their journey:
- Treatment Counseling: Our experienced clinicians provide personalized counseling to help you explore and understand your treatment options, empowering you to make informed decisions about your care.
- Medical Treatment: We specialize in gender-affirming hormone therapy, developing individualized treatment plans tailored to each patient’s goals and medical needs.
- Treatment Monitoring: Regular hormone level assessments ensure that therapy remains safe, effective, and aligned with your transition goals.
- Referrals to Additional Care Services: We collaborate with a broad network of specialists to offer integrated care, including surgical consultations, reproductive health, mental health support, and more.
- Care Coordination: Our dedicated coordination team streamlines your experience, ensuring smooth communication among all members of your healthcare team.
Meet Our Team
Our multidisciplinary team of physicians combines expertise, compassion, and a deep commitment to providing gender-affirming care:
- Dr. Aviva Cohn
- Dr. David Cohen
- Dr. Hyon Kim
- Dr. Sara Lubitz
We are here to support you with compassionate care and expertise.
Diabetes Services
The Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is committed to supporting individuals with diabetes. Our mission is to deliver exceptional and personalized care, drive scientific advancements, educate patients, and train the next generation of endocrinologists.
Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic medical condition in which the body is unable to properly regulate the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Insulin, produced by the pancreas in the abdomen, helps regulate blood glucose levels. Diabetes occurs when there is either too little insulin available, resistance to the insulin, or both.
Types of Diabetes We Manage
Regardless of the type of diabetes you have, we possess the knowledge and experience to help you achieve your health goals.
- Type 1 diabetes (T1D): The body does not produce insulin due to an autoimmune process that limits the pancreas’s ability to make insulin. Type 1 diabetes is also called juvenile-onset diabetes, as it often develops during childhood. However, diagnosis can occur at any age. Insulin injections or the use of an insulin pump are needed.
- Type 2 diabetes (T2D): Most people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by insulin resistance, where the body does not respond to available insulin effectively. Type 2 diabetes is often associated with increased weight, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and we can help manage all these conditions with you.
- Gestational diabetes: Hormonal changes during pregnancy can lead some women to develop gestational diabetes, which can lead to complications for both the mother and the developing fetus. Our endocrinologists work closely with your obstetricians and maternal-fetal physicians to help control blood sugar levels during this critical time.
- Other causes: Less common forms of diabetes include:
- Drug-induced diabetes – due to side effects from medications, including glucocorticoid steroids, specific cancer therapies, and organ transplant medications.
- Conditions that affect the pancreas, including pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, and cystic fibrosis.
- Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) – This is also called monogenic diabetes due to genetic mutations that impact the body’s ability to make insulin appropriately.
Why Diabetes Care is Critical
Diabetes is a chronic disease, meaning if left untreated, it can lead to serious complications. Diabetes is the primary cause of blindness, amputations, and kidney disease requiring dialysis. Additionally, having diabetes increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and neuropathy. Controlling the blood sugar levels can lower the chance of these outcomes.
How We Approach Diabetes Care
Our philosophy is to empower patients with the knowledge and tools to manage their blood sugar, optimize their health, and minimize the risk of complications. We achieve this through a comprehensive approach to diabetes care, which includes education, technology, nutrition counseling, and exercise guidance.
- Comprehensive diabetes self-management education involving blood glucose monitoring, insulin injection therapy, and the use of non-insulin medications
- Access to the latest diabetes technologies, including continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pumps
- Dietary and nutrition counseling with individualized recommendations
- Exercise guidance
- Support and guidance to caregivers, including remote monitoring and medication administration
- Working closely with our pediatric endocrine colleagues to assist patients in the transition from pediatric to adult medicine
- Dedicated inpatient diabetes team for patients hospitalized at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, with assistance in post-discharge care
- Close communication with primary care providers to ensure coordination of care
- Refer to other specialists, including nephrologists, ophthalmologists, neurologists, hepatologists, cardiologists, podiatrists, and bariatric surgeons.
Choosing RWJ for Your Diabetes Care:
When you choose Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for your diabetes care, you choose a team that is dedicated to your well-being. You will receive the following benefits, each designed to make your journey with diabetes as smooth as possible.
- American Diabetes Association (ADA) Certified Center of Excellence staffed with Certified Diabetes Educators.
- Close to home – Our providers take care of patients in New Brunswick and Monroe, NJ. We also provide telehealth visits for patients throughout the state.
- Academic endocrinologists – Our faculty are employed by Rutgers University and strive to use an evidence-based approach, informed by the current literature.
- Team-based care – Our team comprises experienced physicians, nurse practitioners, certified diabetes educators, and other healthcare professionals to help meet the needs of patients living with diabetes.
- Access to clinical trials and cutting-edge research – Our faculty lead or collaborate with other Rutgers scientists on multiple metabolic studies, and you may be able to participate in them if you desire. Our research aims to understand the causes of diabetes better, leading to the development of effective prevention measures and innovative treatment strategies.
Publications and More
- The Role of Sensory Innervation in β-Cell Regeneration and Function
- Genetically and Anatomically Targeted Neuromodulation of Pancreatic β-Cells
- Substrate and Hormonal Regulation of Gluconeogenesis
- Sensory-Derived Signals Regulated Regeneration of Insulin-Producing Cells
- Anatomical-Functional Mapping of Pancreatic Sensory Neuronal Circuits
- Structural and Functional Mapping of Islet β-Cell Sensory Innervation
- Identification of Novel Delivery Systems for Diabetic Therapeutics
- Metabolomics Data Correction and Normalization Using Stable-Isotope Labeled Internal Standards
- Molecular Mechanisms of Thyroid Hormone Action
- Obesity, Type 2 DM; beta cell function and glycemic improvement after surgical weight loss
- Peripheral leukocytes and insulin resistance
- Long-Term Outcomes of NIFTP/UMP Tumors
- MPOWERED(TM) Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Octreotide Capsules in Patients with Acromegaly
Metabolic Phenotyping Core
The Metabolic Phenotyping Core Facility provides investigators with services to comprehensively assess metabolism in rodents. This is particularly relevant if one is interested in understanding the role of genes or drugs in controlling metabolism, and given the huge cost of the obesity and diabetes epidemic, this has potential relevance to many investigators at Rutgers who do not work on metabolism but may have stumbled upon a metabolic phenotype that may potentially have relevance for obesity and diabetes.
We provide advice on experimental design and metabolic phenotyping capabilities such as Indirect calorimetry, body composition, metabolic turnover studies, and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp analysis in live animals, which includes data analysis and interpretation. Do not hesitate to contact us if you are considering using our services.
Featured Services
Accordion Content
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To assess energy homeostasis, including oxygen consumption, CO2 production, respiratory exchange ratio through indirect calorimetry, and food intake and activity monitoring.
The core can perform indirect calorimetry for up to 24 animals in parallel (8 Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS, Columbus Instruments) and 16 TSE metabolic cages). Eight of these indirect calorimetric cages are placed in one environmental chamber that allows the manipulation of the ambient temperature where the animals can be housed at a set temperature in a range from 4°C to 30°C to assess how metabolism is regulated during cold exposure or thermoneutrality commonly believed to be around 28°C.
The latter is important as the ambient temperature influences many metabolic functions, and the argument has been made that mice are under constant moderate cold stress at room temperature, which changes the susceptibility to fatty liver and metabolic disease. Hence, conventionally housed mice are not a good model for human disease since humans wear clothes and do not experience cold stress.
Thus, it is informative to study mice at thermoneutrality as a more suitable model for human conditions, which the environmental chamber allows. The profound impact of ambient temperature on experimental outcomes is now appreciated in the metabolism and, for example, in the immunology field.
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The lean and fat mass ratio is critical to studying/understanding energy homeostasis and metabolic disease. The EchoMRI uses MRI to measure lean mass, fat mass, and free water content in restrained conscious mice. Body composition is assessed without anesthesia in less than three minutes. This can be repeated to confirm reproducibility and serially monitored for the effect of an obesity or drug treatment and/or specific gene ablation in metabolic control.
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To determine metabolic flux and the turnover rate of specific molecules and the contribution of labeled substrates to metabolism and metabolic control, the core provides metabolomics analysis using stable-isotope labeled tracer infusion and LC/MS. Tracers are infused through the right jugular vein to establish and maintain a steady state for 6h, and serum samples are collected and derivatized to analyze with LC/MS (Metabolomics Core conducts LC/MS).
Enrichment of metabolites and flux analysis is conducted to determine the distribution of specific carbon sources and the turnover rate of metabolites. These results provide fundamental metabolic information in diabetes, NAFLD, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Metabolomics analysis is a critical technique to overcome the limitation of traditional metabolomics studies such as bolus injection because infusion maintains a steady state of metabolism, and state of the art LC/MS system enables determination of the enrichment and flux rate of many metabolites in the same sample.
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The core provides a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp using a stable-isotope labeled 6,6-D2 glucose infusion and LC/MS to study glucose metabolism and insulin action in mice. 6,6-D2 glucose is infused through the right jugular vein for 3h for basal clamp and then 6,6-D2 glucose plus insulin and 50% (w/v) glucose are infused for 3h to maintain euglycemia. The serum is collected to determine glucose enrichment and turnover rate using LC/MS.
This result provides key parameters of insulin action such as the glucose infusion rate and the rate of hepatic glucose production in the basal state and the hyperinsulinemic clamp period. Hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp in this core uses a stable-isotope labeled tracer instead of traditional radioisotope and LC/MS, providing more accurate results and a safer methodology as no radioactivity is involved.
Support Team
Scientific Director
Christoph Buettner, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Division Chief
Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition
Department of Medicine
Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Executive Director
Azeddine Tahiri
Lab Manager
Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition
Department of Medicine
Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Email: azeddine.tahiri@rutgers.edu
Equipment
The Metabolic Phenotyping Core Facility, housed within the Child Health Institute of New Jersey's animal facility, offers the following advanced instrumentation:
- Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS): Eight cages for indirect calorimetry (Columbus Instruments).
- TSE Systems Metabolic Cages: Sixteen cages with environmental chambers for indirect calorimetry.
- EchoMRI-100: Whole-body composition analyzer.
- Infusion Pumps and Tether Systems: For stable isotope tracer infusion.
- Anatomical Microscope and Surgery Stations: Designed for precision research.
- Teledyne FLIR T530 Thermal Camera: For thermal imaging applications.
The Metabolic Phenotyping Core Facility provides state-of-the-art resources for metabolic research and phenotyping studies.
Core Pricing
| Services | Academic Int. | Academic Ext. | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body composition | 18 | 30 | 42 |
| Tolerance test (Glucose, insulin, pyruvate and glycerol | 36 | 60 | 84 |
| Jugular vein catheter implantation surgery | 180 | 300 | 420 |
| Arterial catheter implantation surgery | 180 | 300 | 420 |
| Jugular vein and arterial catheter implantation surgery | 240 | 400 | 560 |
| Indirect calorimetry | 180 | 300 | 420 |
| Indirect calorimetry with environmental chamber | 240 | 400 | 560 |
| Indirect calorimetry analysis | 60 | 100 | 140 |
| Euglycemic clamp | 240 | 400 | 560 |
| Euglycemic clamp analysis (LC/MS and data analysis) | 60 | 100 | 140 |
| Infusion of stable-isotope tracers and serum preparation for metabolomics | 120 | 200 | 280 |
| Metabolomics analysis (sample derivatization, LC/MS and data analysis) | 60 | 100 | 140 |
| FLIR Thermal Imaging | 18 | 30 | 42 |
Important Notes:
1. All listed prices are in USD and are quoted per sample/mouse.
2. LC/MS and MS data analysis are performed at the Metabolomics Core (New Brunswick) under the supervision of Xiaoyang Su, Ph.D.
3. Investigators are responsible for providing stable-isotope tracers, including 13C6-Glucose, 2D-Glucose, 13C3-pyruvate, 13C3-lactate, and 13C3-glycerol, for metabolomics studies.
Contact Us
Appointments
To schedule an appointment, discuss experiments, or request pricing information, please get in touch with Azeddine Tahiri via email at azeddine.tahiri@rutgers.edu.
Locations
Offices:
Clinical Academic Building
125 Paterson Street, 7th Floor, Room # 7120
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Animal Facility:
Child Health Institute of New Jersey
89 French Street, CMR Room # 204
New Brunswick, NJ 08901