During its almost forty-year history, Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge has built a reputation as a global leader in medical research and discovery, particularly in the highly specialized realm of metabolic health and endocrine disorders.
But today, with the launch of the Advanced Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic under the leadership of Lake Charles-native Dr. Timothy Gilbert, the Center’s mission has expanded beyond pure research to encompass direct patient treatment, too.
Dr. Gilbert, who brings more than twenty years’ experience as an endocrinologist to Baton Rouge, noted that the demand for high quality endocrine care vastly outpaces the availability of endocrinologists to treat it. Many patients suffering from disorders like Types 1 and 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, endocrine hypertension, PCOS, as well as thyroid, adrenal, and pancreatic diseases, end up waiting months to receive care, or traveling far from home to receive it.
Approaching its one-year anniversary, Pennington’s Advanced Endocrinology and Diabetes clinic not only provides a new source of care for Louisiana’s underserved patients experiencing endocrine disorders; it directly connects patients to cutting-edge therapies and clinical trials—many of them developed right here, on Pennington’s campus.
“The idea was, ‘We’ve got some of the world’s best scientists here working on novel treatments for these disease states, and we have treatments that are often not yet available to the lay community,’” explained Dr. Gilbert. “’What if we harness that knowledge with a clinically practicing endocrinologist, like myself, who can then, kind of take that, and merge the best of both worlds?’”
One Pennington study that Dr. Gilbert is currently evaluating for his patients researches how metformin—one of a class of diabetes medications known as biguanides—might reduce metabolic risk in non-diabetic patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. Another study explores the potential impact of taking Amgen’s weight-loss drug Maritide in conjunction with popular weight-loss medications like Wegovy or Zepbound.
“Pennington has eighty to ninety studies going on at any given time,” noted Dr. Gilbert. “There are studies like these that I might be able to enroll patients in, and knowledge gleaned from those studies that can help me guide other patients in their treatment.”
In addition to access to the latest research and treatments, patients at Pennington’s clinic also benefit from Dr. Gilbert’s unified approach. Diabetes patients, for example, are evaluated by their physician, have their labs done, select the right insulin pump for their lifestyle, and receive hands-on training from Pennington’s in-house diabetes educators. “At the clinic, we have the ability to pull up the patient’s glucose readings, their insulin pump reports, and see what’s happening in real time with those patients, so that we can make suggestions to them on a daily basis,” said Dr. Gilbert. ‘We have a hand in it all the way, through every step.”
Nationally, some of the few other places you can find a marriage between research and treatment on this scale include the globally renowned Cleveland and Mayo clinics. “We’ve already been able to make a big difference for a large group of patients here in Baton Rouge and surrounding regions,” said Dr. Gilbert. Because the clinic accepts Medicaid, when many others in the area do not, Pennington has been able to reach patients who otherwise wouldn’t have easy access to endocrinology care and treatments. “You don’t have to be special to be seen here,” he said. “We bill insurance and health plans the same as any other clinic. We’re just also able to offer cutting-edge therapies that other centers aren’t able to.”
Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Advanced Endocrinology and Diabetes Clinic is open from 8 am–4:40 pm Monday–Friday. To make an appointment, have your provider submit a referral via fax (225-763-0256) or email (endocrinology@pbrc.edu), or call directly at (225) 763-0250. Learn more at pbrc.edu/research-trials/diabetes-clinic.
