Biography
Rashaun was born in New York City and raised in The Bronx, New York. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Nutrition sciences at the City University of New York – Brooklyn College in 2013. He then moved on to attain his Ph.D. in Biochemical and Molecular Nutritional Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Dawn Belt Davis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His doctoral research navigated the pathophysiology of type-2 diabetes in relation to islet biology. This research focused on a hormone, cholecystokinin (CCK), that showed novel therapeutic effects for diabetic islets and demonstrated the potential influence of CCK in dedifferentiation and transdifferentiation of pancreatic islet cells. His work was supported and funded through several fellowships including the American Physiological Society’s Porter Fellowship and the SciMed Graduate Research Scholars Fellowship. Rashaun joined the Remedi Lab Fall of 2023 to advance his knowledge of β-cells and continue exploring the intricacies of diabetes and discovering novel treatment mechanisms.
Research Interests
Pancreatic β-cells make up such a small portion of the entire pancreas and have the difficult job of maintaining glucose homeostasis through insulin exocytosis. Diabetes is a complicated disease whose underlying cause is pancreatic islet dysfunction that is continually explored but still not fully understood. Rashaun’s current research goals are identifying β-cell function and identity in different microenvironments in vivo through islet transplantation. His other research interests include neonatal diabetes, dedifferentiation and transdifferentiation of islet cells and novel therapeutics for diabetes.