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Dr. Alberto Hayek is a research professor of pediatrics at University of California San Diego and scientific director of the Whittier Institute for Diabetes. He is a pediatric endocrinologist trained in pediatrics at Yale and pediatric endocrinology at Harvard. For the last 25 years he has led an active academic career in diabetes research.

Dr. Hayek's research interests initially centered in pancreas and islet development, experimental islet transplantation and expansion of fetal and adult pancreatic islets. Most recently, his lab has been actively working with stem cells, both embryonic and reprogrammed from somatic cells for their differentiation into insulin producing cells. Clinically, he developed the first clinic for the care of diabetic children in San Diego, California, and he maintains active collaborations with physicians in South America related to the care of diabetic children.