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Elbert Huang, MD

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

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 Feb 17.
PMID: 39978368

Biases in the performance of FRAX without BMD in predicting fracture risk in a multiethnic population with diabetes: the Diabetes & Aging Study.
Biases in the performance of FRAX without BMD in predicting fracture risk in a multiethnic population with diabetes: the Diabetes & Aging Study. J Bone Miner Res. 2025 Jan 29.
PMID: 39876767

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 Jan 09.
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

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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