Manager of Trainee Affairs, Multicultural Affairs Office, Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Rhonda Bentley-Lewis, MD, MBA, MMSc
Assistant in Medicine, Diabetes Unit
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Rhonda Bentley-Lewis earned her Bachelor’s degree at Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. She went on to the University of Pennsylvania where she earned her Doctorate in Medicine at the School of Medicine and a Master’s in Business Administration at the Wharton School in healthcare management. She completed both her Internal Medicine residency and Endocrinology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. During this time, she earned a Master’s in Medical Science from Harvard Medical School focusing on clinical investigation. She joined the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2010 in order to focus her clinical practice and clinical research on diabetes in pregnancy and adverse maternal outcomes subsequent to pregnancy. She is currently an Assistant in Medicine in the Diabetes Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Abstract: Development of a Screening Algorithm for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)
GDM affects approximately 7% of all pregnancies in the US and is associated with an increased risk for subsequent development of maternal type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). There is some disagreement among national and international authorities regarding the optimal screening criteria for GDM; however, most would advise broad, if not universal, screening based on the identification of clinical risk factors. Because of the increased prevalence of GDM, particularly among non-white populations who are also at increased risk for future T2DM and CVD, enhanced clarification of the approach to GDM screening is crucial to reducing the adverse maternal sequelae of this disease. Therefore, the primary goals of this proposal are to characterize CVD risk factors in women with GDM and use these data to develop primary prevention strategies for women at risk for CVD. This research would have wide-reaching implications, including impacting the development of prospective investigation of this population, clinical practice guidelines, and public health policy.
