Kavaljit H. Chhabra, M.Pharm., Ph.D.

After obtaining Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy: Pharmacology degrees from Gujarat University in India, Dr. Chhabra moved to New Orleans to pursue a PhD at LSU Health in the Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Chhabra gained theoretical and experiential understanding of blood glucose regulation in Dr. Eric Lazartigues' lab, where he studied the role of pancreatic ACE2 in diabetes in mice. Dr. Chhabra was a recipient of a pre-doctoral fellowship, 2011-2013, from the American Heart Association in addition to other national recognitions such as Outstanding Abstract/Oral Presentation Awards by the American Physiological Society.
For his post-doctoral training, in 2013, Dr. Chhabra joined Dr. Malcolm Low's lab at the University of Michigan to study the function of the central melanocortin system in glucose homeostasis. Under Dr. Low's mentorship, Dr. Chhabra has identified the function of hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in glucose reabsorption via GLUT2, an insulin-independent mechanism of glucose regulation, which was highlighted in the March 2016 issue of Diabetes journal. Moreover, Dr. Chhabra has unraveled a reciprocal relationship between hypothalamic POMC and leptin for which he was awarded a Novel Disease Model Award by the American Physiological Society in 2016. Dr. Chhabra has further demonstrated the contribution of hypothalamic POMC in the regulation of basal sympathetic nervous system activity, which in turn is essential for normal glucose reabsorption.
Dr. Chhabra is a recipient of Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow and Outstanding Postdoctoral Teaching Awards by the University of Michigan. Most recently, Dr. Chhabra has received an Early Investigator Award by The Endocrine Society.
Dr. Chhabra's current research project on the contribution of hypothalamic melanocortin 4 receptor signaling in hypoglycemia counterregulation is funded by a K01 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.