Professor Rory McCrimmon - Biography

Professor Rory McCrimmon is an internationally renowned physician-scientist and academic leader, currently serving as Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee. With a distinguished career spanning clinical medicine, diabetes research, and academic leadership, he is recognised for his pioneering work in understanding the brain’s response to hypoglycaemia and its implications in type 1 diabetes.

Educated at the University of Edinburgh, Professor McCrimmon completed his medical training and obtained an MD focused on the cognitive impact of acute hypoglycaemia. He later held research and academic positions at Yale University. Since returning to the UK, he has held progressive academic roles at the University of Dundee, culminating in his appointment as Dean in 2019.

As a clinician and researcher, Professor McCrimmon has led groundbreaking investigations into the neurobiology of hypoglycaemia, identifying key pathways such as the AMP-activated protein kinase and ATP-sensitive potassium channels in glucose sensing. His research has been highly influential, contributing to improved clinical understanding and treatment strategies for diabetes. He has published extensively, with over 20,000 citations, reflecting his impact in the field.

Beyond his laboratory and clinical contributions, Professor McCrimmon plays a central role in advancing diabetes research in Scotland. As the Diabetes Champion for the Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN), he leads efforts to support and coordinate high-quality clinical trials across the country. Under his leadership, the SDRN has secured substantial funding to promote collaborative, translational research that bridges basic science and clinical care.

Professor McCrimmon has also been actively involved in shaping national and international research agendas. He has served on numerous advisory and editorial boards, including Diabetes, Diabetologia, and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. His expertise has been sought by organisations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Medical Research Council, and the Danish and Swedish research councils.

In academia, Professor McCrimmon is committed to mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists. He has supervised numerous PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and academic trainees, and has co-authored chapters in foundational medical texts, including Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine. His leadership in education extends to curriculum development and fostering inter-institutional collaboration, including roles with ScotGEM and the Medical Schools Council.

Professor McCrimmon’s contributions have been recognised with multiple prestigious awards, including the Dorothy Hodgkin and RD Lawrence Lectures from Diabetes UK, and election to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Through his multifaceted career, he continues to influence the future of diabetes care, medical education, and clinical research both in the UK and globally.

Research

The focus of his translational research programme is to define the fundamental mechanisms by which the brain detects low glucose levels (hypoglycaemia) and how these mechanisms are disrupted in type 1 diabetes in response to repeated episodes of hypoglycaemia. Key findings include, establishing key roles for AMP-activated protein kinase and the ATP-sensitive potassium channel in the detection of hypoglycaemia by the brain, and in establishing that impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia, a clinical condition that affects up to 25% of all people with type 1 diabetes, develops as a result of a specialised form of memory called Habituation. He is also active in clinical trial research and has served as the UK Chief Investigator in a number of multi-centre international clinical trials.

Teaching

Primary teaching experience is in academic mentoring and supervision of clinicians, post-graduates and undergraduate students. In this capacity, I have served as Programme Lead for the Academic Foundation Doctors in the Eastern Deanery, been a member of the Scottish Translational Medicine Training Initiative, and a Medical Research Council Clinical Fellowship Training and Career member Development Awards panel. Also, I have co-written the Chapter on Diabetes in Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine (Editions 22 and 23), a textbook that has been read by over 2 million medical students since its first edition. As Dean I jointly Chair the ScotGEM post-graduate Entry Medical Programme with Deborah Williamson, Dean of Medicine, St Andrew’s University and will visit Anglia Ruskin University regularly as it starts its new Medical School adopting the Dundee Curriculum.

International Lectures

• Cellular Consequences of Hypoglycemia, April 15-17, 2021. 100^th anniversary of the "Discovery of Insulin: A Scientific Celebration" meeting, Toronto,
• Obstacles and Barriers to Treatment and Prevention of Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia (IAH) and Counter-Regulatory Responses in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes, October, 2021. NDDK, Washington, Bethesda, USA
• Impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia: Rememberance of things past. Nov 7, 2020, European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology virtual conference
• Let’s talk hypoglycemia: an under-recognized unmet need in people on basal insulin, September 2020, Sanofi, European Association for the Study of Diabetes Virtual Conference
• IHSG Symposium: The clinical impact of hypoglycaemia, September 2020, European Association for the Study of Diabetes Virtual Conference
• SUSTAIN clinical programme, Efficacy of once-weekly semaglutide in the landscape of diabetes care, September 2020, BAMEAC GLP-1 Summit 2020 Webinar, Semaglutide: new kids on the block,
• Impact of CVOTs in clinical decision making, September 2020, BAMEAC GLP-1 Summit 2020 Webinar, GLP-1 receptor agonists in cardiometabolic care,
• Integrating once-weekly and oral semaglutide into current clinical practice, September 2020, Virtual GSEM, GLP-1 Diabetes
• Central Mechanisms of Hypoglycemia Awareness, June 2020, American Diabetes Association
• Characteristics of US patients with type 2 diabetes prescribed GLP-1RA + SGLT-2i in combination during 2018, June 2020, American Diabetes Association
• Niall O'Meara lecture - Irish Endocrine Society Lecture, Jan 2020 The Royal College of Physicians in Dublin
• S SUSTAIN 8: Outcomes and Implications. Dec 2019. International Diabetes Federation, South Korea
• GLT2 inhibitors for type 1 diabetes: clinical implications Sep 2019. European Association for the Study of Diabetes Barcelona, Spain
• Mechanisms of hypoglycaemia unawareness Sep 2019. European Association for the Study of Diabetes Barcelona, Spain
• Bringing (a little more) light to the dark side of insulin 14th Mar 2019, Yale University Scholars Day, New Haven, USA
• Impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia: Causes and Consequences 21st Nov 2018, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
• The future never looked so Bright: When medicine meets technology. DCV Forum 26/27th October 2018, Paris, France
• A combination approach: Targeting the right patients. 1st Oct 2018, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Berlin, Germany
• Unified outcomes in diabetes management. European Diabetes Forum 30th Sept 2018, Berlin, Germany
• Hypoglycaemia: Forget about it! May 2018, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• What do clinicians need to know about hypoglycaemia? Dec 2017 Meet the expert. International Diabetes Federation, Abu Dhabi, UAE
• Impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia: New discoveries and treatments. Sept 2017 European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Lisbon, Portugal
• Clinical Inertia: Lessons from Scotland. Sept 2016, European Association for the Study of Diabetes Munich, Germany
• Exercise in Type 1 Diabetes: Sep 2016, European Association for the Study of Diabetes Munich, Germany
  Physiology of Exercise in Type 1 Diabetes. Apr 2016 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation PEAK program, Boston, US
• Impaired hypoglycaemia awareness: The habit of a lifetime. Feb 2016, Steno Diabetes Centre, Denmark
• Impaired hypoglycaemia awareness: The habit of a lifetime. Oct 2015, International Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, Brisbane, Australia
• Cerebral adaption to recurrent hypoglycaemia. Mar 2015 Levine Symposium, San Diego, USA
• The Scylla and Charybdis of glucose control in Type 1 Diabetes. Aug 2014 Norwegian Diabetes Meeting, Oslo
• Hypoglycaemia: The study of stress, starvation and tolerance. Jan 2014, 3U Meeting, Dublin
• Diabetes and Dementia. Dec 2013 International Diabetes Federation, Melbourne, Australia
• The highs and lows of metabolic stress in type 1 diabetes. Oct 2013 International Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, Gothenberg, Sweden
• Another piece of the jigsaw: How the brain regulates pancreatic endocrine function. Dec 2012 International Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes conference, Istanbul, Turkey
• Hypoglycaemia Tolerance: An adaptive response to repeated hypoglycaemia. Sep 2012 National Diabetes Symposium, Helsinki, Finland
• Hypoglycaemia and the brain: does age play and important role. Aug 2012 Lilly peaks and Valleys meeting, Santiago, Chile
• Hypoglycaemia and the brain: does age play and important role. May 2012 Lilly peaks and Valleys meeting, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Hypoglycaemia and the brain: Does age play and important role. Apr 2012 Lilly peaks and Valleys meeting, Amsterdam, Holland
• Mechanisms of hypoglycaemia sensing. Sept 2011 Diabetes Dialogue, Barcelona, Spain
• Central regulation of glucose homeostasis Oct 2010, FASEB, Kyoto, Japan
• Mechanisms Underlying Hypoglycemia Unawareness, Aug 2016 International Diabetes Federation, Cape Town, South Africa
• Mechanisms of Neuronal Glucose-Sensing, Jun 2016, American Diabetes Association Meeting, Washington, USA
• Role for AMP Kinase in Hypoglycemia Sensing. Se 2007 Hypoglycemia Congress, Perugia, Italy
• The BB Rat Turns Thirty: Lessons and Future Directions. Oct 2004, Ottowa, Canada

National Lectures

• Clinical Management of Hypoglycaemia, RCPE Symposium on Diabetes and Endocrinology, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Oct 2020
• Hypoglycaemia; the good, the bad and the ugly, University of Glasgow Guest Lecture Series, Oct 26, 2020
• Hypoglycaemia: A force of habit. Dec 2016 University of Exeter
• Impaired hypoglycaemia awareness. Nov 2015 National Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes Group, Birmingham
• The Sci is the limit. British Hypertension Society. Sept 2015 Stafford-on-Avon
• Old habits are hard to break: Lessons from the study of hypoglycaemia. March 2015 RD Lawrence Lecture, Diabetes UK, London, (Plenary Lecture)
• Inflammation and glucose sensing. March 2015 BHF Queen Margaret Institute, Edinburgh University
• The Unaware Neuron. May 2014 Institute if Metabolic Science, Aberdeen University,
• Getting excited about blood sugar: The brain and blood glucose control. April 2014 British Endocrine Society, Liverpool
• Hypoglycaemia Tolerance: An adaptive response to repeated hypoglycaemia. April 2014 Bristol University
• Hypoglycaemia: The study of stress, starvation and tolerance. March 2014 Scottish Study Group, Dunblane
• Hypoglycaemia: The study of stress, starvation and tolerance. March 2014 Diabetes UK, Liverpool
• Pre-conditioning and Hypoglycaemia. April 2014 University of Manchester
• Stress, starvation and Hypoglycaemia. March 2013 Institute of Metabolic Research, Cambridge University
• Central Mechanisms of hypoglycaemia awareness, March 2012 Diabetes UK Conference
• Hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes and the development of hypoglycaemia tolerance. Feb 2012 Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism
• Hypoglycaemia Tolerance. Nov 2010 Queens Medical Research Institute, Edinburgh
• Hypo or not to hypo, that is the question? Nov 2010 Scottish Study Group, Pitlochry
• Life as an Academic Physician. Oct 2010 Young Diabetologists Forum, Edinburgh, QMRI
• Hypoglycaemia Tolerance Sept 2010 Annual Paediatric Endocrinologists Meeting, Sterling
• Integrated pathways involved in glucosensing. March 2010 Diabetes UK, Liverpool
• Developments in Hypoglycaemia Research. March 2008 Diabetes UK Conference, Glasgow
• Hypoglycaemic Stress; Homeostasis Challenged. Oct 2007 Scottish Society for Experimental Medicine, Aberdeen