Rate My Professor Jenny Gunton

Professor Jenny Gunton is a Professor in the Westmead Clinical School within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She heads the Centre for Diabetes, Obesity and Endocrinology Research at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and serves as Chair of Medicine at Westmead Hospital and Head of Discipline of Medicine at the University of Sydney. Gunton obtained her MBBS from the University of Queensland between 1987 and 1992, completed endocrinology and diabetes specialist training, became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and earned her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Sydney between 2000 and 2003. After her PhD, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School in 2005. She established and led the Diabetes and Transcription Factors laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research before relocating her research group to the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in 2014.

Gunton's research investigates the effects of vitamin D on skeletal muscle function, the regulation of transcription factors by nutrients, and areas including diabetes, obesity, nutrition, metabolism, vitamin D, and musculoskeletal diseases. Notable publications include "Vitamin D receptor-mediated stromal reprogramming suppresses pancreatitis and enhances pancreatic cancer therapy" (2014), "The roles of vitamin D in skeletal muscle: form, function, and metabolism" (2013), "A vitamin D receptor/SMAD genomic circuit gates hepatic fibrotic response" (2013), "Loss of ARNT/HIF1β mediates altered gene expression and pancreatic-islet dysfunction in human type 2 diabetes" (2005), and "Metformin rapidly increases insulin receptor activation in human liver and signals preferentially through insulin-receptor substrate-2" (2003). She has received the Australian Diabetes Society Wikramanayake Mid-Career Award in 2019 and the Bruce Hunt Medal and Oration in 2013. Gunton has held prominent roles such as President of the Australian Diabetes Society from 2012 to 2014, Vice-President from 2010 to 2012, Treasurer of the Endocrine Society of Australia since 2023, and board member of Diabetes Australia from 2008 to 2015. Her laboratory has obtained funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grants and the NSW Office of Health and Medical Research.