University of Pennsylvania
Division of Endocrinology,
Diabetes & Metabolism
415 Curie Boulevard
712 A Clinical Research Bldg.
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6149
Phone: (215) 573-1872
Fax: (215) 573-5809
Education
Undergraduate: University of London
Degree: BSc Medical: University of Ghana Medical School
Degree: M.D. Postgraduate: Tulane University School of Medicine
Degree: Ph.D. (Neuroendocrinology)
Residency
Jack
D. Weiler Hospital
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY
Fellowship:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Ctr.
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Board Certification:
Internal Medicine
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Biography
Dr. Ahima is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a BSc degree from the University of London, MD from the University of Ghana, PhD from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and internship and residency in internal medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Jack D. Weiler Hospital and Jacobi Medical Center, in New York. He then moved to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, for subspecialty training in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, and postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Flier.
Dr. Ahima served as Instructor in Medicine at Harvard prior to moving to Penn in 1999. He received the Owl Club, Leo Davidoff and Pfizer Awards at Tulane, Albert Einstein and Harvard. Dr. Ahima was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2005, and has served as a reviewer and advisor to the National Institutes of Health, Welcome Foundation of the United Kingdom and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Ahima is a member of the Institute of Neurological Sciences, and the Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Physiology and Pharmacology Graduate Groups at Penn. He is director of the Penn DERC Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Core, which offers diagnostic testing for diabetes and obesity research in rodents.
Dr. Ahima's research is focused on the central regulation of body weight and energy balance. He is interested in how adipocyte hormones, such as leptin, adiponectin and resistin, act in the brain and other organs to regulate appetite, metabolism and hormones. These studies which have important implications for obesity and diabetes, involve the use of transgenic mice, chemical and immunoassays, in vivo metabolic measurements, neurochemical and tissue culture techniques.
Dr. Ahima has a clinical interest in the neuroendocrinology of obesity. He directs the Weight Management and Metabolism Program at the Presbyterian Hospital, in collaboration with the Preventive Cardiology Program. Moreover, Dr. Ahima is co-director of the Obesity Unit of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania.
