Dr. Elbert Huang is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy, and Associate Director of the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research at the University of Chicago. From 2010-2011, he served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Huang is a general internist who studies clinical and health care policy issues at the intersection of diabetes, aging, and health economics. His main research focus is in the area of medical decision making for elderly patients with type 2 diabetes where uncertainty exists regarding how to best individualize diabetes treatments based on clinical parameters and patient preferences. Over the past decade, Dr. Huang has established one of the most active research programs in geriatric diabetes in the country.
Apart from his work in geriatric diabetes, Dr. Huang has also performed other seminal translational diabetes research in the area of cost-effectiveness analysis. He performed the economic analyses of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Health Disparities Collaboratives initiative of diabetes quality improvement in community health centers that serve the indigent. With this one study, he performed one of the first business case analyses from the perspective of the community health center as well as one of the first societal cost-effectiveness analyses of a quality improvement initiative.
Dr. Huang’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Diabetes Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He has received numerous honors including the Research Paper of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine and elected membership to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Huang received his A.B., M.D., and M.P.H. from Harvard University and came to the University of Chicago in 2001.
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA
MPH - Clinical Effectiveness
2001
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
- Fellow, General Internal Medicine Faculty Development and Fellowship Program
2001
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford, CA
- Internship and Residency
1999
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
MD - Medicine
1996
Harvard College
Cambridge, MA
BA - Biology
1992
Biases in the performance of FRAX without BMD in predicting fracture risk in a multiethnic population with diabetes: the Diabetes and Aging Study.
Biases in the performance of FRAX without BMD in predicting fracture risk in a multiethnic population with diabetes: the Diabetes and Aging Study. J Bone Miner Res. 2025 Apr 21; 40(4):478-491.
PMID: 39876767
Realigning diabetes regimens in older adults: a 4S Pathway to guide simplification and deprescribing strategies.
Realigning diabetes regimens in older adults: a 4S Pathway to guide simplification and deprescribing strategies. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2025 May; 13(5):427-437.
PMID: 39978368
Trends in Co-morbid Dementia and Chronic Kidney Disease.
Trends in Co-morbid Dementia and Chronic Kidney Disease. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Jan 14.
PMID: 39809960
Deprescribing in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: Associations With Patients' Perspectives: The Diabetes and Aging Study.
Deprescribing in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: Associations With Patients' Perspectives: The Diabetes and Aging Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2025 Apr; 73(4):1155-1167.
PMID: 39781584
Which Social Variables Predict Diabetes Onset? Robust Findings in Two National Surveys.
Which Social Variables Predict Diabetes Onset? Robust Findings in Two National Surveys. Gerontologist. 2024 Oct 01; 64(10).
PMID: 39126250
Male Gender Expressivity and Diagnosis and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease Risks in Men.
Male Gender Expressivity and Diagnosis and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease Risks in Men. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Oct 01; 7(10):e2441281.
PMID: 39453653
Caring for dementia caregivers: How well does social risk screening reflect unmet needs?
Caring for dementia caregivers: How well does social risk screening reflect unmet needs? J Am Geriatr Soc. 2025 Jan; 73(1):63-73.
PMID: 39315491
The Impact of Unrelated Future Medical Costs on Economic Evaluation Outcomes for Different Models of Diabetes.
The Impact of Unrelated Future Medical Costs on Economic Evaluation Outcomes for Different Models of Diabetes. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2024 Nov; 22(6):861-869.
PMID: 39283475
Updating and calibrating the Real-World Progression In Diabetes (RAPIDS) model in a non-Veterans Affairs population.
Updating and calibrating the Real-World Progression In Diabetes (RAPIDS) model in a non-Veterans Affairs population. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2024 Nov; 26(11):5261-5271.
PMID: 39223846
Effectiveness of Multilevel and Multidomain Interventions to Improve Glycemic Control in U.S. Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Effectiveness of Multilevel and Multidomain Interventions to Improve Glycemic Control in U.S. Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Diabetes Care. 2024 Sep 01; 47(9):1704-1712.
PMID: 39190927
Award for Leadership
Midwest Region Society of General Internal Medicine
2018
American Society for Clinical Investigation, Elected Member
2011
Mary Tyler Moore and S. Robert Levine, M.D., Excellence in Clinical Research Award
JDRF
2011
Leif B. Sorensen Faculty Research Award
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago
2011
Research Paper of the Year Award
Society of General Internal Medicine
2009
Presidential Poster Session Award (Preventive Medicine)
American Geriatrics Society
2007
Presidential Poster Session Award (Quality of Life)
American Geriatrics Society
2006
Merck New Investigator Award
American Geriatrics Society
2006
Junior Faculty Research Abstract Award
Midwest Society of General Internal Medicine
2001