A Clearer View: Dr. David Reiter’s Mission to Transform Diabetes Imaging
Dr. David Reiter didn’t set out to study the pancreas. As a faculty member in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, his focus has long been on quantitative MRI, particularly applied to the musculoskeletal system. But a meaningful collaboration with endocrinologists Dr. Priyathama Vellanki and Dr. Lisa Staimez helped shift his lens—literally and figuratively to a new frontier: pancreatic functional imaging.
“It wasn’t my direct area of research,” Reiter admits. “But the quantitative imaging piece is my core focus, and the more I learned about the pancreas, the more I was fascinated by its physiology and the untapped opportunity for functional imaging to play a role in improving our understanding of its pathophysiology in diabetes.”
Currently, diabetes diagnosis relies primarily on blood markers like fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c. These tools are useful, but they only tell part of the story.
“They show the dangerous outcomes of diabetes, elevated blood sugar, but they don’t provide any direct information about the functional decline of pancreas that leads to these consequences,” Reiter explains. “That’s the missing piece we’re trying to capture.”
Reimagining Diabetes Diagnostics
In collaboration with Drs. Vellanki and Staimez, Dr. Reiter is developing non-invasive imaging methods to assess pancreatic function under physiologic stress without contrast agents or radioactive tracers. Using standard MRI equipment, the team introduces a glucose challenge during imaging and watches how the pancreas responds in real-time.
“When we’re fasted, the pancreas is relatively dormant. But after we drink glucose, the islet cells in the pancreas are activated. These islets sense the glucose in the blood and releases insulin. That’s the stress we’re referring to: challenging the organ to do its job,” Reiter says. “It’s similar in concept to a stress test for the heart.”
The aim is to visualize functional changes in people with prediabetes, diabetes, or those undergoing treatment. Dr. Reiter hopes this method will one day complement traditional diagnostics and offer a clearer picture of the underlying disease process.
From Muscle to Metabolism
Before turning his focus to the pancreas, Dr. Reiter had spent years studying skeletal muscle, using MRI to evaluate metabolic response during exercise or after temporary blood flow restriction.
“It’s a different organ entirely,” he says, “but the idea of measuring physiologic response to stress is something we’ve been doing in muscle for some time. Now we’re translating that concept to an organ with very different biology and that’s exciting.”
This leap into endocrinology demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary research, something Dr. Reiter passionately advocates.
“I can’t speak highly enough of collaboration,” he says. “You need a diversity of expertise to tackle complex biomedical problems. It’s impossible to stay in silos anymore.”
A Word of Advice
For researchers considering a similar pivot, Dr. Reiter emphasizes curiosity and partnership.
“Make sure it’s something that genuinely fascinates you. I didn’t expect to become so intrigued by the pancreas,” he says. “And surround yourself with excellent collaborators who can teach you what you don’t know. Just as important is knowing how to stay in your lane. For me, that’s quantitative imaging, that focus grounds our work, even as we explore new directions.”
Looking Ahead
Dr. Reiter is especially energized by where radiology is headed, from compressed sensing to the integration of AI.
“We’re collecting enormous amounts of spatial, temporal, and quantitative data in imaging. With machine learning, we’re finally reaching a point where we can process and interpret that data in powerful ways,” he says. “I think we’re on the cusp of unlocking information that’s been sitting in these images for years, just waiting for the right tools.”
With this mindset and a collaborative spirit, Dr. Reiter is helping reshape how we visualize one of the body’s most elusive organs. His work could ultimately transform how diabetes is diagnosed and managed, not just by numbers on a chart, but by the dynamic response of the pancreas itself.