Mark O’Connor, MD
By Caleb White | Date published: December 16, 2024
December Researcher Spotlight: Mark O’Connor, MD
In this month’s Researcher Spotlight, we highlight the work of Mark O’Connor, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. Dr. O’Connor is an endocrinologist specializing in diabetes care, with research focusing on hypoglycemia prevention and continuous glucose monitoring. Additionally, he is a member of the Diabetes Center of Excellence (DCOE) at UMass Chan Medical School/UMass Memorial Health and a core faculty member of the Internal Medicine Residency Research Track.
After finishing an endocrinology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr. O’Connor became intrigued with advancing care for patients with diabetes. “I gravitated towards diabetes research due to the sheer number of people affected by diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes,” Dr. O’Connor said. “It’s also a disease that's heavily impacted by social determinants of health, so I think it's important that we think about ways to offer a diverse group of patients not just medication, but non-medication interventions for diabetes through education and new technology.”
One of Dr. O’Connor’s recent projects involved collaboration with faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine to study the feasibility of offering continuous glucose monitors in the emergency department for patients with diabetes-related emergencies. It was the first of its kind to evaluate the benefits of continuous glucose monitors for ER patients. “With these devices, as with any new technology, initial uptake is not always distributed evenly among the population, and it doesn't always get to the people who need it most due to a variety of factors,” Dr. O’Connor explained. “Although our sample size was limited, the patients we reached found it beneficial for monitoring their blood sugars and scanned it regularly. This was a good sign, because sometimes people who would benefit from this technology the most are the least likely to know about it and bring it up at the clinic.”
Another research project being conducted by Dr. O’Connor involves using machine learning to detect and help prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in patients with diabetes. He is currently developing algorithms to use data from wearable biosensors, such as smart watches, to non-invasively detect hypoglycemia based on parameters like heart rate and electrodermal activity. “Along with trying to meet diabetes patients where they’re at, such as the emergency department, it’s important to take technology that people already have and harness it to help them, and ultimately help their doctors take care of them,” Dr. O’Connor said. “Using more accessible digital health tools like smart watches is one possibility we can harness.”
Dr. O’Connor will serve as a site principal investigator for an upcoming multi-site clinical trial funded by PCORI to study and compare two medicines, SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists, which have both been shown to prevent cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes. He explained that the trial will compare the medicines “head-to-head” to see if one is more efficacious than the other. “I think this new trial is exciting because every patient will be getting an active drug with proven cardiovascular benefits. It’s the type of trial that can be very helpful to clinicians because as more medications are available, it can be hard to know which option among many to choose. Hopefully, it will generate some practice-changing insights for both endocrinologists and primary care doctors who manage diabetes.”
Dr. O’Connor, a Massachusetts native, earned his medical degree at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester before completing an internal medicine residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He served at UMass Memorial Medical Center as a hospitalist for two years before becoming an endocrinologist.
We thank Dr. O’Connor for his continued clinical and research contributions to the Department of Medicine and look forward to his future achievements!