College of Medicine associate dean author of recently published national diabetes guideline
Dr. S. Sethu K. Reddy, senior associate dean of the College of Medicine.
Photo courtesy of Central Michigan University
Dr. Sethu Reddy, the senior associate dean for research in the College of Medicine at Central Michigan University and president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE), spent the last three years co-authoring the association's clinical practice guideline, “Developing a Diabetes Mellitus Comprehensive Care Plan and 2022 Update.”
Reddy has been involved with the AACE since 1995. Before serving as the president, he has, over the course of 13 years, been the chair of over 100 committees in the AACE, including the social economic, conflict of interest policy task force and rebranding committees. He was asked to serve as one of the four team leaders for this project.
“I am a strong believer that you should give back to your profession, so that is why I originally became involved with AACE,” Reddy said.
He believes one of the biggest ways to serve and give back to a local community is through medicine.
He worked alongside a team of around 30 people to do research, draft questions and make edits. Over 2,000 references and subjects from across the country were used in the guideline.
It was published in October 2022 and is replaces the previous one published in 2015.
“It was a very involved process,” Reddy said. “Lots of conference calls, working on weekends, trying to be accountable.”
The guideline is meant for doctors and specialists looking for answers to questions on how to best treat diabetes for patients. It is a very extensive document and is not meant to be read all the way through, Reddy said.
When asked what challenges Reddy and his team faced he said since the process took three years, by the time an early section was finished, new research had come out and the section had to be updated. That meant during the last four or five months, Reddy had to stay up-to-date with the latest research to ensure everything was still relevant.
Another challenge was having such a large amount of people working on this guideline. It was difficult with everyone having different schedules. But, being able to work together on a shared document was really helpful and allowed everyone to work together at different times, Reddy said.
Although it was more work, Dr. Reddy enjoyed being a team leader. He said it was a two-way street: He helped out his section while also learning from his colleagues at the same time.
“I’m very happy and satisfied to see all the hard work that was put into this guideline be paid off now that it’s published,” Reddy said. “This is greatly beneficial for doctors to use to help their patients.”
Reddy attended Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, graduating in 1980 with his medical degree. He then attended the University of Toronto for a fellowship in endocrinology -- the study of hormones and the endocrine system -- and metabolism.
The doctor then spent three years at Harvard doing a research fellowship in cellular molecular physiology.
After completing his fellowship at Harvard, Reddy was recruited by the Cleveland Clinic, where he got his Master of Business Administration. While working at the Cleveland Clinic, he partnered with AACE to develop the first endocrinology board review course
Reddy said he chose to go into endocrinology which is the study of the endocrine system and diseases which includes diabetes specifically because problems related to insulin impact people everywhere, and he wants to help those with diabetes.
He has been working at CMU since 2017 as a professor, and since 2021 has served as the senior associate dean of research.
Reddy said he wanted to come to CMU since the medical school is fairly new and the faculty and students are very enthusiastic to work with.
“A new medical school has to put in a lot of effort and time to build up its reputation,” he said.
Reddy said one of his favorite parts about his job at CMU is getting involved with the medical residents working in Saginaw and teaching years one and two medical students.
