Lydia Aguilar-Bryan, M.D., Ph.D., completed medical school at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City and earned her Ph.D. in Population Genetics from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. For the last three decades Dr. Aguilar-Bryan has worked in different aspects of Diabetes research including, (1) epidemiological research on a population of Mexican-Americans in Star County, Texas with a diabetes prevalence rate of nearly 35%, (2) basic research related to the cloning and reconstitution of an ATP-sensitive K+ channel (K_ATP) channel that plays a very important role in the regulation of insulin and glucagon secretion and (3) more translational research that includes the analysis of DNA samples from patients that have different inherited forms of Diabetes or insulin secretory abnormalities like Hyperinsulinemic Hypoglycemia, Neonatal Diabetes and Ketosis Prone Diabetes. A large part of this research took place while she was at Baylor College of Medicine, where she also participated in other academic activities including several committees like the Affirmative Action Committee, Committee on Scientific Integrity and the BCM Institutional Diversity Council as well as several activities related to invited speakers and recruitment from underrepresented minorities. Dr. Aguilar-Bryan is member of the American Diabetes Association, American Physiological Society, and Endocrine Society among others. She is also Associate Editor of Current Molecular Medicine and serves on the Editorial Board for the America Journal of Physiology and Endocrinology. She has been funded by the NIH, ADA, JDRF and the Thrasher Research Fund and has participated in many review panels that include the NIH, JDRF and Diabetes and Endocrine Research Centers from Universities of Pennsylvania, Colorado, Vanderbilt and Iowa in addition to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Welcome Trust and the Israeli Science Foundation. Her research interests include understanding the molecular mechanisms by which glucose stimulates insulin secretion; how mutations alter K_ATP channel function and give origin to inherited diseases and what can be done to prevent damage to the pancreatic islet during intrauterine life, that will later on in life will increase the risk to acquire diabetes mellitus.