Aaron Michels

Dr. Michels is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, & Immunology at the University of Colorado Denver, the Frieda and George S. Eisenbarth Clinical Immunology Endowed Chair, Director of Clinical Immunology at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, and a practicing endocrinologist. Dr. Michels is active in Diabetes research and has authored or co-authored many articles published in peer-reviewed journals. His research focuses on understanding the basic immunology of type 1 diabetes to design specific therapies to prevent and stop the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing cells. He discovered that small drug-like molecules targeted to diabetes risk HLA molecules can block self-reactive T cell responses and translated these findings from bench to bedside. He is also involved in clinical trials using medications to safely alter the immune system to prevent and treat type 1 diabetes. Dr. Michels has lived with type 1 diabetes for more than 20 years and is committed to caring for patients with diabetes along with pursuing research to prevent and ultimately cure type 1 diabetes. Dr. Michels earned a BS degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, and MD degree from Creighton University.