Professor Carel Le Roux

Professor Carel Le Roux

Chair in Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and University College Dublin Ireland

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Professor Carel le Roux graduated from medical school in Pretoria South Africa, completed his specialist training in metabolic medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospitals and the Hammersmith Hospitals.  He obtained his PhD from Imperial College London where he later took up a faculty position.  Carel moved to University College Dublin (UCD) for the Chair in Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine and he is now a Director of the Metabolic Medicine Group. Carel also holds the position of Professor of Metabolic Medicine at Ulster University.

Carel currently coordinates an Innovative Medicine Initiative project on obesity.  He previously received a President of Ireland Young Researcher Award, Irish Research Council Laurate Award, Clinician Scientist Award from the National Institute Health Research in the UK, and a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship for his work on how the gut talks to the brain.

Professor Le Roux has published numerous high impact papers over the years that have influenced his field.  In particular, his translational research on the understanding of the physiological role and pathological changes in appetite control and the impact of bariatric surgery on diabetes has been widely acknowledged.  He has also been able to take up a variety of editorial positions of peer reviewed journals.

Working within the UCD Diabetes Complications Research Centre and the Section of Surgery and Surgical Specialities, the focus of his research is primarily concerned with increased mortality and morbidity associated with obesity and diabetes.  A better mechanistic understanding of how the “gut talks to the brain” will allow safer and more effective treatments to be used in future.  To this end the role of gut hormones, bile acids and changes in food preference are areas of interest.

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Why Obesity Is About Far More Than Calories In Versus Calories Out

  Think of a house in winter.  The thermostat is set to 21°C and the central heating works to hold it constant.  Open a window and heat escapes, the thermostat senses the drop in temperature and the central heating kicks in again until the temperature is restored.  The temperature is defended: whatever pushes it off…

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The Next Wave of GLP‑1 Treatments

Introduction The therapeutic approach to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is evolving in a similar way to how clinicians use antibiotics: targeting several pathways that often produce stronger and more durable effects than acting on a single pathway. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) laid the foundation, but the complexity of fat mass regulation…