Alvin C. Powers, M.D., the Joe C. Davis Chair in Biologic Science and Professor of Medicine, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University, is the Director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center, the Chief of the Vanderbilt Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, and the Director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center, a NIH-funded center that facilitates the diabetes-related research of more than 120 Vanderbilt scientists. He is a physician-scientist whose research on type 1 and type 2 diabetes focuses on pancreatic islet biology, development, and function. His research is or has been supported by the NIH, the VA Research Service, the JDRF, and the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Dr. Powers is also the Director of the Vanderbilt Medical Student Research Training Program in Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism and the Coordinator for the NIH/NIDDK Medical Student Research Program in Diabetes. These two programs enable more than 100 medical students to conduct diabetes-related research each summer at a NIDDK-supported Diabetes Research Center. Dr. Powers has served on advisory panels, study sections, or boards for the NIH, the JDRF, the Endocrine Society, and the ADA. Dr. Powers was elected to the Association of American Physicians and is the recipient of the David Rumbough Award for Scientific Excellence from the JDRF and the Banting Medal for Leadership and Service from the ADA. He served as the President of Medicine & Science of the American Diabetes Association in 2017.
Dr. Powers, a physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, is listed by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd as one of “America’s Top Doctors.” Dr. Powers received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his medical degree from the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences. After training in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Powers trained in Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center, the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School.