Inaugural EDOR Director Professor Sir Jim Mann with the current EDOR Director Professor Rachael Taylor.
Image was taken at the Royal Society Te Apārangi in April 2023, on the occasion of Professor Taylor being made a Ngā Ahurei a Te Apārangi fellow.
Our people
Reducing the global burden
The vision statement of the Centre is:
“To make a significant contribution to reducing the global burden of diabetes and obesity through research and dissemination of knowledge."
We aim to reduce the prevalence, and to improve the management, of diabetes and obesity by finding new ways to prevent and treat these conditions. By striving for research excellence and encouraging international collaboration we can bring the greatest benefit to New Zealanders and the wider world.
We believe that considerable progress has been made over the relatively short life of the Centre.
Collaborating across disciplines and borders
We promote collaboration amongst those involved in diabetes-related research. We engage with a range of departments within the University of Otago as well as working alongside researchers and healthcare providers throughout New Zealand and internationally.
EDOR research aims
We are committed to sharing our knowledge and discoveries with communities, and to providing advisory services to organisations; locally and internationally.
EDOR advisory expertise
Steering our Centre
Advisory Board members oversee our Centre's activities. We seek representatives from consumer groups, researchers, health agencies, tertiary institutions and tangata whenua. Our current chair is Sir Bruce Robertson.
Funding our research
Our Centre was established in 2003 with a generous foundation donation made by the Edgar family. This inspired further donations, and the total was matched by the New Zealand Government through the Leading Thinkers campaign. In 2006 Karitane Products Society assisted with the establishment of a Senior Research Fellowship in Early Childhood Obesity.
Other financial support is received through applications for research grants. Over the past decade we have been grateful for the support of:
- Dunedin School of Medicine
- Eli Lilly
- Health Research Council
- Lottery Health Research
- National Heart Foundation
- Novo Nordisk
- Otago Community Trust
- Otago Diabetes Research Trust
- Otago Medical Research Foundation: Laurenson Grants
- Southern Trust
- University of Otago
Our Annual Reports provide more information.
Our work
- VIDEO: The Obesity Epidemic (14 mins mp4)
- EDOR poster
- EDOR research
- EDOR publications
- EDOR advisory expertise
Centre governance
Sir Eion Edgar, founding benefactor and first chair of the EDOR Advisory Board