OBJECTIVES:

UCLA and UCSD and their affiliated campuses at Cedars-Sinai and Salk, respectfully, have integrated, highly productive and well-funded programs in diabetes and its complications and in endocrinology. Because of growing interaction and collaboration between Los Angeles-based and San Deigo-based investigators, the Southern California Diabetes Endocrinology Consortium (SCDEC) was conceived as a means to formalize, enhance, and continue to fertilize these relationships.

By joining forces and aligning common interests, basic and clinical scientists at both Centers have recognized the enormous potential to strengthen and expand their research opportunities and resources. Thus, the SCDEC DERC represents a critical foundation to consolidate diabetes and endocrinology investigation at two premier academic centers. The objectives of the SCDEC DERC are to:

• Unite investigators from relevant disciplines in a manner that will enhance and extend the effectiveness of their research in diabetes/endocrinology and the complications of diabetes.
• Foster collaborations between diabetes/endocrinology researchers at UCLA and UCSD so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Enhance, support and develop Cores to facilitate diabetes/endocrinology research at UCLA and UCSD.
• Develop new areas of research and foster young investigators focused in diabetes and its complications through pilot and feasibility grants.