Rayhan Lal

Rayhan Lal, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Gerontology, & Metabolism, Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: As an electrical engineer and computer scientist with type 1 diabetes, Dr. Lal’s primary research interest is the design, development and testing of new diabetes technology and therapeutics. The significance of informed type 1 diabetes clinical practice became clear to him after his two younger sisters also developed diabetes. He decided to devote himself to medicine and is now an adult and pediatric endocrinologist at Stanford. He works extensively with Dr. Bruce Buckingham testing new commercial subcutaneous autonomous (closed-loop) insulin delivery systems. Iterative improvements continue to advance these systems, which remain limited by the complex kinetics of insulin activity. This manifests as systems requiring meal announcements, favoring hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, and then activating alarms when the user inevitably hits the opposite extreme. Dr. Lal collaborates with many members of SDRC, QSU and open-source diabetes community to bypass the technological and human factor limitations of existing devices. He is also co-leader of the SDRC Bioengineering & Behavioral Sciences Research Affinity Group.

Selected relevant publications: 

  1. Hsu L, Buckingham B, Basina M, Ekhlaspour L, von Eyben R, Wang J, Lal RA. Fast-Acting Insulin Aspart Use with the MiniMedTM 670G System. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2021 Jan;23(1):1-7. doi: 10.1089/dia.2020.0083. PMID: 32520594. 

  2. Lum J, Bailey R, Barnes-Lomen V, Naranjo D, Hood K, Lal RA, Arbiter B, Brown A, DeSalvo DJ, Pettus J, Calhoun P, Beck RW. A Real-World Prospective Study of the Safety and Effectiveness of the Loop Open Source Automated Insulin Delivery System. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2020 Nov 23. doi: 10.1089/dia.2020.0535. PMID: 33226840. 

  3. Lal R, Maahs D. Clinical Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Pediatrics. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2017 May;19(S2):S37-S43. doi: 10.1089/dia.2017.0013. PMID: 28541138; PMCID: PMC5444498.  

  4. Lal R, Basina M, Maahs DM, Hood K, Buckingham B, Wilson DM. One Year Clinical Experience of the First Commercial Hybrid Closed-Loop System. Diabetes Care. 2019 Dec;42(12):2190-2196. doi: 10.2337/dc19-0855. PMID: 31548247; PMCID: PMC6868462. [Cites P30] 

  5. Lal R, Cuttriss N, Haller MJ, Yabut K, Anez-Zabala C, Hood KK, Sheehan E, Basina M, Bernier A, Baer LG, Filipp SL, Wang CJ, Town MA, Gurka MJ, Maahs DM, Walker AF. Primary Care Providers in California and Florida Report Low Confidence in Providing Type 1 Diabetes Care. Clin Diabetes. 2020 Apr;38(2):159-165. doi: 10.2337/cd19-0060. PMID: 32327888; PMCID: PMC7164993. [Cites P30]