Senior Investigator Scientist

Aetiology of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders

Left the Unit in 2015

Work and interests

Ali Abbasi was a senior investigator scientist working in the Aetiology of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders Group, and left the Unit in December 2015. Ali is interested in epidemiological research with focus on the aetiology and life course prediction of chronic diseases. He was principal investigator on the Rubicon Grant funded by the Netherlands Organziation for Scientific Research (NWO) (2013-2015). Within the framework of Rubicon project, he used an integrative approach to modeling genetic and biomarkers data. His work aimed to identify relevant biochemical clues which can be objectively assessed for better understanding and predicting risk of type 2 diabetes.

Background and experience

He graduated in medicine (MD) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (1996-2005). Before joining to the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Ali worked as general practitioner (2005-2007) and Clinical Research Fellow in Tehran Heart Centre (2007-2009). He trained in the Department of Epidemiology in close collaboration with the department of Internal Medicine, University of Groningen where (2009-2013) he obtained his PhD. His PhD fellowship was supported by the Center for Translational Molecular Medicine, a project entitled, PREDICCt: Biomarkers for the PREdiction and early diagnosis of DIabetes and diabetes-related Cardiovascular Complications. In this project, Ali validated and updated prediction models for type 2 diabetes and investigated predictive value of emerging biomarkers. In 2010, he visited and collaborated with the Julius Center, University of Utrecht to analyze data from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition in the Netherlands (EPIC-NL).

Publications

• View Ali’s publications on Scopus
• MRC Epidemiology Unit publications on the Publications Database

Selected publications

1. Abbasi A, Stolk RP, Bakker SJ. Identification of relevant biomarkers for type 2 diabetes. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2014;2(2):106-7.
2. Abbasi A, Peelen LM, Corpeleijn E, et al. Prediction models for risk of developing type 2 diabetes: systematic literature search and independent external validation study. BMJ. 2012;345:e5900.
3. Abbasi A, Corpeleijn E, Postmus D, et al. Peroxiredoxin 4, a novel circulating biomarker for oxidative stress and the risk of incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. J Am Heart Assoc. 2012;1(5):e002956.
4. Abbasi A, Corpeleijn E, Meijer E, et al. Sex differences in the association between plasma copeptin and incident type 2 diabetes: the Prevention of Renal and Vascular Endstage Disease (PREVEND) study. Diabetologia. 2012;55(7):1963-70.