The Good, The Bad, and The Nutrients – Dr. Jake Kushner, Medical Director for McNair Interests – A Fascinating Discussion of How the Body Processes Foods and a Closer Look at Diabetes from a Preeminent Pediatric Endocrinologist

Jake A. Kushner M.D., Medical Director, McNair Interests, provides a thorough overview of his research and study of diabetes.

Currently, Dr. Kushner serves as the Medical Director for McNair Interests. He is a renowned diabetes researcher as well as a pediatric endocrinologist with a particular expertise in biotechnology, biomedical research, type 1 diabetes and other specific endocrine disorders. Dr. Kushner is the former Chief of Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology and McNair Medical Institute Scholar at the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. He has worked with the National Institutes of Health, served on the type 1 diabetes advisory council for Lexicon Corporation, and been a strategic advisor for Sanofi.

Dr. Kushner discusses his background as a pediatric endocrinologist and how he came to be interested in the research and study of diabetes. Dr. Kushner is a respected, nationally recognized expert in type 1 diabetes research. His background in medicine is significant and includes endocrinology and diabetes, specifically caring for children with type 1 diabetes, as well as cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, and treating children who have hypoglycemia. He explains type 1 diabetes, and talks about how it affects many people worldwide. 

Dr. Kushner delves into the complex issue of insulin and how the body reacts and responds to nutrients. He explains in detail, the storage of glucose, carbohydrates, and how the body processes everything that comes into it, as well as how stress affects everything. He talks at length about the kinds of meals that people eat, and explains how specific foods are processed by the body for use, including what the body needs, especially for those who have special dietary requirements due to health conditions or disease.

Dr. Kushner is a UC Berkeley graduate and earned a medical degree from Albany Medical College in New York. Dr. Kushner completed his medical residency in pediatrics at Brown University. Additionally, Dr. Kushner engaged in a clinical fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston and a prestigious research fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center, the world’s largest diabetes research center, at Harvard Medical School in Boston.