Dr. Jennifer K. Sun, MD, MPH has been promoted to Senior Investigator within the Research Section of the Joslin Diabetes Center.
This prestigious appointment recognizes sustained excellence in research endeavors here at Joslin. Dr Sun has garnered national and international recognition in the field of diabetic retinopathy clinical research as evidenced by her multiple awards and numerous important national positions. She is the recipient of 21 honors and awards including the JDRF Mary Tyler Moore and Robert S. Levine M.D., Excellence in Clinical Research Award, The Morton Goldberg Lecture at University of Illinois at Chicago, the Joseph Smiddy Memorial Lecture at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, the Research to Prevent Blindness Physician-Scientist Award, and the American Academy Achievement Award.
Her primary areas of interest involve advanced noninvasive ocular imaging and state-of-the-art design and implementation of clinical trials for diabetic retinopathy. Her accomplishments in these areas, combined with her excellent presentation skills and engaging professional leadership style has led to her being named to numerous important national and international positions. These include:
- Chair for Diabetes Initiatives, DRCR Retina Network (Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network or DRCR.net) - widely recognized as ophthalmology’s top group for clinical trials in diabetic retinopathy worldwide, encompassing over 150 sites nationwide, and cited three times for excellence in the United States Congressional Record.
- DCCT/EDIC- Ophthalmology Working Group Member
- JAMA Ophthalmology- CME Edito
- JDRF- Steering Committee Member of the Diabetic Retinopathy Staging Moonshot Initiative and Grant Reviewer
- American Diabetes Association- Grant Review Committee and Writing Group Member for 2017 Position Statement on Diabetic Retinopathy
- American Academy of Ophthalmology- Basic and Clinical Science Course Editing Committee Member, Book 12: Retina and Vitreous
- International Council of Ophthalmology- Diabetic Eye Care Committee Member and Writing Group Member for 2018 IOC Guidelines on Diabetic Eye Care
- Co-Chair, Global Expert Panel of the FOCUS study (A Research Study to Look at How Semaglutide Compared to Placebo Affects Diabetic Eye Disease in People with Type 2 Diabetes)
At Joslin, Dr. Sun has been an investigator for over 50 funded studies and she has served as site PI or co-PI for 26 of these. She directly oversees the clinical trials team at the Beetham Eye Institute at Joslin, which for over ten years has been a tier 1 recruiter (highest level of recruitment for clinical trials nationally), and a top leader in clinical trial quality.
Since 2017, her work has led to a total of 39 named author papers in peer-reviewed journals (34 research investigations and 5 other peer-reviewed scholarship), including 24 first or last author manuscripts. Her Google Scholar H-index is 36 with a total of 7,461 citations.
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