A prestigious award recognizes a VA doctor’s diabetes research on pancreatic islets and the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Loss or dysfunction of these cells contributes to all forms of diabetes, which has significant relevance to VA’s patient population.
Dr. Alvin C. Powers, Tennessee Valley VA physician, has earned the prestigious William S. Middleton Award, which recognizes outstanding scientific contributions and achievements in biomedical and bio-behavioral research relevant to the health care of Veterans.
Established in 1960 by VA and the Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service, the Middleton Award is the organization’s highest honor for outstanding achievement in biomedical research.
“Research sponsored by VA is very important in improving the health care we deliver to Veterans,” Powers said. “I am honored to be both a VA physician and researcher since VA research and patient care are synergistic. This award recognizes the work of my colleagues with whom I have had the privilege of working.”
Honored for leadership of diabetes research
Powers was nominated for the Middleton Award based on his contributions to VA research and his discoveries that have provided new insight into the pathogenesis of human diabetes. He was also honored for his leadership of diabetes research and his mentoring of VA physicians and scientists, according to associate chief of staff of Research and Development Dr. Ray Stokes Peebles.
Powers, an internationally recognized diabetes researcher, joined the Nashville VA Medical Center in 1991 and was named a senior clinical scientist investigator by the VA Office of Research and Development in 2020.
Powers is chair of the Advisory Committee for Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Care. He is also chief of the Vanderbilt Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center and director of the National Institutes of Health-funded Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center.
“This award will increase the visibility of research programs at TVHS,” Peebles said.
