Dr Raif Tawakol is Director of the Evergreen Medical Lipid Center, Director of Evergreen Medical Diabetes Center and Director of Circadian Sleep Center. His primary interest in lipids has been focused on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism for the last 10 years, with clinical work in raising HDL more than 50% for the last five years. Dr Tawakol has been published in Diabetes Care this year, and presented a Poster presentation at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in June, entitled “Marked HDL Cholesterol Benefit in Patients with Low HDL-C and Type 2 Diabetes or Impaired Glucose Tolerance with Combined Treatment of Pioglitazone and Low Dose Nicotinic Acid”. His clinical research is in raising HDL using combination therapy with an emphasis on inflammatory markers, free fatty acid (FFA), C-reactive protein (CRP) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (LPPLA2) in the metabolic syndrome, and diabetes and the relationship to heart failure.
