Prof Katherine Samaras
Research Level
Biography
Katherine is an endocrinologist and clinical scientist, and Theme Leader for Healthy Ageing Research at the Garvan Institute, where she is also Lab Leader for the Clinical Obesity, Nutrition and Adipose Biology Lab. She is a senior staff specialist in the Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent’s Hospital and the Founder and Director of the Australian Centre for Metabolic Health (St Vincent’s Campus) addressing the conditions of diabetes and metabolism. Her work on diabetes and obesity prevention and early intervention have translated to novel metabolic rehabilitation services on St Vincent’s Campus, early intervention services, and influences treatment guidelines and practice internationally.
Katherine’s research focuses on how healthy ageing is affected by diabetes and metabolism, particularly brain ageing and dementia, in work that extends from the bedside to the laboratory bench. Notably, she is the lead investigator in the MetMemory Study, a study led by some of Australia’s most respected dementia experts, aimed at halting cognitive decline in older people through repurposing of old, safe metabolic medications.
PhD studies were undertaken at Garvan under the supervision of Prof Lesley Campbell. Prior appointments include St Thomas’ Hospital, London and the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. She has previously served as Chairman, Specialist Advisory Committee for Endocrinology, Royal Australian College of Physicians and a number of other national committees, specialist societies, grant funding bodies and scientific journals. She has been the recipient of numerous NHMRC and other respected government grants.
Katherine has extensive collaborative links within St Vincent’s Hospital and Garvan, but also with the Centre for Healthy Brain and Ageing, UNSW Sydney, the CSIRO, the Kirby Institute UNSW, the University of Sydney and other groups internationally.
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Katherine is an endocrinologist and clinical scientist, and Theme Leader for Healthy Ageing Research at the Garvan Institute, where she is also Lab Leader for the Clinical Obesity, Nutrition and Adipose Biology Lab. She is a senior staff specialist in the Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent’s Hospital and the Founder and Director of the Australian Centre for Metabolic Health (St Vincent’s Campus) addressing the conditions of diabetes and metabolism. Her work on diabetes and obesity prevention and early intervention have translated to novel metabolic rehabilitation services on St Vincent’s Campus, early intervention services, and influences treatment guidelines and practice internationally.
Katherine’s research focuses on how healthy ageing is affected by diabetes and metabolism, particularly brain ageing and dementia, in work that extends from the bedside to the laboratory bench. Notably, she is the lead investigator in the MetMemory Study, a study led by some of Australia’s most respected dementia experts, aimed at halting cognitive decline in older people through repurposing of old, safe metabolic medications.
PhD studies were undertaken at Garvan under the supervision of Prof Lesley Campbell. Prior appointments include St Thomas’ Hospital, London and the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. She has previously served as Chairman, Specialist Advisory Committee for Endocrinology, Royal Australian College of Physicians and a number of other national committees, specialist societies, grant funding bodies and scientific journals. She has been the recipient of numerous NHMRC and other respected government grants.
Katherine has extensive collaborative links within St Vincent’s Hospital and Garvan, but also with the Centre for Healthy Brain and Ageing, UNSW Sydney, the CSIRO, the Kirby Institute UNSW, the University of Sydney and other groups internationally.
Video
Awards and Honours
2013 - The HeAL Declaration (Healthy Active Lives) tabled in the House of Lords (UK) as part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists “Parity of Esteem” Presentation
2013 - The HeAL Declaration (Healthy Active Lives) adopted by NSW Government
2013 - EuroHeAL Declaration launched, Kortenburg (Belgium)
2013 - Invitee, Ministerial Summit, Parliament House 24th May 2013. National Summit on Physical in Mental Health: Addressing the premature death of people with mental illness.
2011 - NSW Health Awards Finalist, Award for Excellence in Mental Health
2011 - “Don’t just screen, intervene” Clinical algorithm for metabolic health in mental illness adopted by UK Royal College of Psychiatrists website “Improving physical and mental health”
2011 - “Don’t just screen, intervene” Clinical algorithm for metabolic health in mental illness adopted by NSW Health into “Linking Physical and Mental Health: Training Package.”
Education
1996 - Fellowship, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
1988 - MBBS (Hons), University of New South Wales - Australia
Selected Publications
Samaras K, Makkar S, Crawford JD, Nochan NA, Wen W, Draper B, Trollor, JN, Brodaty H, Sachdev PS. Metformin-use is associated with slowed cognitive decline and reduced incident dementia in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. Diabetes Care 2020; 43: 2691-2701
Lo J, Crawford JD, Samaras K, Desmond DW, Köhler S, Staals J, Verhey F, Bae HJ, Lee KJ, Kim BJ, Bordet R, Cordonnier C, Dondaine T, Mendyk AM, Lee BC, Yu KH, Lim JS, Kandiah N, Chander RJ, Yatawara C, Lipnicki DM, Sachdev PS, for the Stroke and Cognition (STROKOG) collaboration. The association of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes with cognitive function after stroke: A STROKOG collaboration study. Stroke 51: 1640-1646
Atlantis E, Fahey P, Williams K, Edwards S, Samaras K, Dugdale P, Shi Z, Sharma A. Comparing the predictive ability of the Edmonton Obesity Staging System with the body mass index for use of health services and pharmacotherapies in Australian adults: a nationally representative cross-sectional study. Clinical Obesity 2020; published online 18/5/20; doi.org/10.1111/cob12368.
Samaras K, Makkar S, Crawford JD, Nochan NA, Slavin MJ, Wen W, Trollor, JN, Brodaty H, Sachdev PS. Statin use in the elderly: memory, cognition and brain volume changes over 6 years. J Am Coll Cardiol 2019; 74:. DOI: 1016/j/jacc.2019.09.041
Samaras K, Tevaerai H, Goldman M, le Coutre J, Holly, JMP. Editorial: With obesity becoming the new normal, what should we do? Frontiers in Endocrinology 2019; 10:250. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00250
Samaras K. Endocrine disorders in HIV and their treatment. In: “HIV Management in Australia. A Guide to Clinical Care”. Department of Health (Australian Federal Government) and Australian Society for HIV Medicine. 2019 (Canberra). (Invited Review and Treatment Guideline).
Teasdale SB, Curtis K, Ward PB, Watkins A, Lederman O, Rosenbaum S, Kalucy M, Lappin J, Samaras K. The effectiveness of the Keeping the Body in Mind Xtend pilot lifestyle program on dietary intake in first-episode psychosis: Two-year outcomes. Ob Res Clin Pract 2019; 13: 214-6. doi: 10.1016/j.orcp.2019.02.003.
Teasdale SB, Ward PW, Samaras K, Firth J, Stubbs B, Tripodi E, Burrows TL. Dietary intake of people with severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. British J Psychiatry 2019. 2019 Feb 20:1-9. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2019.20.
Bradford ST, Nair SS, Statham AL,van Dijk SJ, Peters TJ, Anwar F, von Martels JZH, Sutclife B, Maddugoda MP, Peranec M, Varinli H, Arnoldy R, Buckley M, Ross JP, Zotenko E, Song JZ, Stirzaker C, Bauer DC, Qu W, Swarbrick MW, Lugers HL, Lord, RV, Samaras K, Molloy P, Clarke S. Methylome and transcriptome maps of human visceral and subcutaneous adipocytes reveal key epigenetic differences at developmental genes. Scientific Reports 2019; org/10.1038/s41598-019-45777-w.
McMahon CN, Petoumenos K, Hesse K, Carr A, Cooper DA, Samaras K. Eleven-year incident glucose disorders in treated HIV-infection. The St Vincent’s HIV and Diabetes Study. AIDS 2018: 32: 451-459.
Kumar S, Samaras K. The impact of weight gain during HIV treatment on risk of pre-diabetes, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and mortality: a review. Frontiers Endocrinology 2018; 9:705. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00705.
Teasdale S, Ward PB, Jarman R, Wade T, Rossimel E, Curtis J, Lappin J, Watkins A, Samaras K. Is obesity in young people with psychosis a foregone conclusion? Markedly excessive energy intake is evident soon after antipsychotic initiation. Frontiers in Psychiatry 9:725, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00725.
Fazekas-Lavu M, Tonks K, Samaras K. Benchmarks of diabetes care in men living with treated-HIV infection: a tertiary referral experience. Frontiers in Endocrinology 2018; 9:634. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00634.
Saloman C, Whittle E, Bellamy J, Evans E, Teasdale S, Samaras K, Ward PW, Hsu M, Trollor J. “It just slips away”: a qualitative exploration of barriers and enablers of physical activity and healthy eating for older Australians with intellectual disability. Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2018. DOI: 10.1080/23297018.2018.1550727.
Atlantis E, Kormas N, Samaras K, Fahey P, Sumithran P, Glastras S, Wittert G, Fusco K, Bishay R, Markovic T, Ding L, Williams K, Caterson I, Chikani V, Dugdale P, Dixon J. Clinical Obesity Services in Public Hospitals in Australia: a position statement based on expert consensus. Clin Obes 2018; 8: 203-210
