Alberto Hayek, MD
Dr. Alberto Hayek, MD
Dr. Alberto Hayek is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UCSD and is currently Co-Director of the Pediatric Diabetes Research Center. Originally from Colombia, Dr. Hayek received his MD degree from Xaveriana University in Bogota, Colombia then trained in pediatrics at Yale University.
After completing a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology at Harvard University, Dr. Hayek directed the pediatric diabetes clinic at the University of New Mexico, and later at the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute in La Jolla. Additionally, he has served as a study section member on review panels for the National Institute of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The majority of Dr. Hayek’s time is dedicated to basic research in diabetes, with a focus on insulin-producing pancreatic endocrine cells, which are grouped in the so-called islets of the pancreas. His laboratory was the first to show replication of human islets in vitro when exposed to specific growth factors. Dr. Hayek’s laboratory was also one of the first to show that it is possible to culture human fetal and adult islets. This culture-system has provided a model for the identification of growth factors involved in islet cell differentiation and replication.
