Dr. Leonor Corsino works to relieve the prevalent issues regarding diabetes and obesity. An endocrinologist and professor at the Duke School of Medicine, her passions lie in understanding the struggles that diabetics face through comprehensive patient care and communication.

Leonor Corsino

Her interests in endocrinology began at a young age. She grew up watching her father and many other members of her family challenged with balancing a normal life alongside diabetes. When she progressed to medical school, she was fascinated by the workings of the hormonal system, one of the most neatly regulated of all the biological systems.

“When it works in harmony, everything is perfect, but when something goes off, it affects many other organs,” she says.

Corsino believes that patient-provider communication is the most important thing for the makings of a good endocrinologist. As the Associate Director for Masters in Biomedical Sciences, she aims to teach students pursuing a career as a healthcare professional to be empathetic. “[A student] can be the smartest person in world, but if [they] don’t know how to communicate with the patient, their ability to provide care gets compromised.”

Another factor that plays a role in providing good patient care is the amount of time available to treat each person, according to Corsino. Although Corsino always aspires to treat her patients to the best of her abilities, occasionally, the limited time she has with each individual can impose difficulties with empathizing and treating patients. However, many regular patients don’t mind when their appointments are delayed because they know that they will receive better care when they are able to get her undivided attention.

Beyond her clinical expertise, Corsino’s research focuses on similar issues. Through her research, she intends to improve the healthcare of minorities in the country, as they are the groups that are most affected by diabetes. In the past 11 years, she has introduced interventions to improve and maintain weight loss and worked with pharmaceutical companies to look at potential drugs to treat diabetes. She intends to answer the questions “How do we motivate people to exercise? What is the reason some people struggle with diabetes and other people don’t?”

Corsino has found that biological factors play an equal role to environmental factors in the risk of getting diabetes. Sometimes, even if a patient strictly adheres to the prescribed treatment, they still don’t see the same results and progress as others do. This distinction can be attributed to things like differences in fat distribution and insulin resistance.

In her work, Dr. Corsino tries to alleviate the stress and difficulties that those with diabetes and obesity encounter. As a doctor and professor, she inspires others to pursue a career in public health and provide healthcare to those who need it.

Sindhu PolavaramGuest Post by Sindhu Polavaram, a senior at North Carolina School of Science and Math