Skip to main content
ENDO 2026 Main banner

Emilyn Alejandro, PhD (she/her/hers)

Professor
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Dr. Emilyn Alejandro is a Professor and Bacaner Chair in Physiology at the University of Minnesota (UMN). She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Washington, with minors in Medical History and Dance. As a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, she trained with Dr. Ake Lernmark, studying autoantibodies in Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults and publishing her first scientific paper as an undergraduate, an experience that cemented her commitment to academic research.
She completed postbaccalaureate training at the NIH in Dr. Elise Kohn’s laboratory, investigating insulin signaling in ovarian cancer. Dr. Alejandro then earned her Ph.D. in Physiology at the University of British Columbia under Dr. James D. Johnson, where she examined the autocrine role of insulin in pancreatic beta-cell function and mass. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Bernal-Mizrachi lab at University of Michigan she studied mTOR, a nutrient-sensing protein, and its role in pancreatic beta-cell development and diabetes.
In 2015, she started her independent research laboratory at UMN. The lab work focuses on nutrient sensors, particularly mTOR and O-GlcNAc Transferase (OGT), in the pancreas and placenta. Her team has advanced our understanding of how maternal and fetal nutrient signals shape pancreatic endocrine cell development and long-term diabetes risk. Her research highlights the placenta’s central role in integrating nutritional signals that influence fetal development and susceptibility to diabetes.
Dr. Alejandro is widely recognized for her scientific contributions, receiving honors such as the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, McKnight Presidential Fellowship, and the Henry Pickering Bowditch Lectureship from the American Physiological Society. She directs the NIH-funded PRIMED program and co-directs a T32 training grant focused on inflammation and metabolic disease. An NIH study section member and Balik Scientist Scholar, she collaborates internationally to advance diabetes research and mentor future scientists, exemplifying excellence in research, education, and global health advocacy.

Disclosure information not submitted.

Presentation(s):