Hui Shao
Emory University, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
A class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) was first approved to treat diabetes. They turn out to do much more: trials show they can lower the risk of heart and kidney disease, reverse fatty liver disease, and cause substantial weight loss in people with or without diabetes.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Computer Science
- Topics
GLP-1 receptor agonists
obesity
type 2 diabetes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2030
What they work on
- Develop an agent-based microsimulation model that follows simulated individuals over time to project obesity-related cardiometabolic complications, including heart, brain, kidney and liver disease.
- Build predictive models of how large an individual's response to GLP-1 receptor agonists would be in preventing each cardiometabolic complication, using clinical and genetic data from the NIH All of Us dataset.
- Combine the simulation and prediction models to run large-scale experiments on a nationally weighted sample, and turn the results into a scoring system that identifies high-benefit groups for GLP-1RA coverage.
- Create a large language model interface that presents the scoring system so payers and clinicians can query precision coverage guidance in plain language.
More about the research
With obesity common in the United States, more than half of adults could potentially benefit. But the drugs cost over $15,000 a year, so insurers and other payers restrict coverage, especially for weight management. Deciding who should be covered requires knowing who gains the most, and benefit varies widely from person to person depending on clinical traits and genetics. Solid data to support that kind of targeted policy are largely missing.
Why it matters
Access to GLP-1 receptor agonists is limited by cost and restrictive insurance coverage, even though they may prevent weight-related heart, brain, kidney and liver disease. By estimating who benefits most and at what price, this work could give insurers and policymakers evidence for coverage decisions and help clinicians choose treatments, affecting a population that includes over half of US adults.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Mariana Lazo Elizondo
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Characterize racial/ethnic disparities in fatty liver disease incidence over 10 years in the MESA cohort using CT-measured liver fat and liver enzymes, while accounting for genetic variants such as PNPLA3.
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
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