# Ira J. Goldberg
**Ira J. Goldberg** is an American physician-scientist in endocrinology and cardiovascular medicine at NYU Langone Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine.[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) • [2](https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease) • [11](https://nyulangone.org/news/dr-marcus-goncalves-named-director-nyu-langones-holman-division-endocrinology-diabetes-metabolism) He has argued, in a 2021 review, that cardiovascular disease in diabetes is driven by factors beyond glucose.[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, NYU Langone; Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman Jr. Professor of Endocrinology[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) • [2](https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease) |
| Training | internship and residency, NYU-Bellevue[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) |
| Career | Columbia faculty from 1983, Chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition, Dickinson Richards Professor of Medicine; NYU thereafter[5](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-) • [1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) |
| Signature work | "Hyperglycemia Promotes Myelopoiesis and Impairs the Resolution of Atherosclerosis," Cell Metabolism, 2013[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3992275/) |
| Best-known argument | "Cardiovascular disease in diabetes, beyond glucose," Cell Metabolism, 2021[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X) |
| Trials | CHORD (type 2 diabetes), funded by the American Heart Association; CHORD1 (type 1 diabetes) as follow-up[6](https://physicianfocus.nyulangone.org/untangling-mechanisms-of-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease-risk/) |
| Honors | Levy (2007), Bierman (2010), and Duff (2017) lectures[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) • [7](https://eas-society.org/contributor/ira-goldberg/) |
## Training and career
Goldberg earned a B.S. at the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](https://www.edgepedia.org/massachusetts-institute-of-technology) in 1971 and an M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 1975.[5](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-) He served his internship and residency in medicine at New York University-Bellevue Hospital Medical Center.[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg)
He joined the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in 1983.[5](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-) • [1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) At Columbia he served as an assistant professor of medicine from 1983 to 1990, became Chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine and [Nutrition](https://www.edgepedia.org/nutrition), and was named the Dickinson Richards Professor of Medicine.[5](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-) • [1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) He later moved to NYU, where he leads the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and [Metabolism](https://www.edgepedia.org/metabolism) and holds the Bronfman professorship.[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) • [2](https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease)
## Research contributions
For several years he has studied how diabetes impairs the blood vessels' capacity for self-repair after cholesterol is lowered to normal levels.[2](https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease) • [6](https://physicianfocus.nyulangone.org/untangling-mechanisms-of-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease-risk/) He has also held an NIH consortium grant to develop models of diabetic atherosclerosis.[5](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-)
## Representative work
**Hyperglycemia promotes myelopoiesis and impairs the resolution of atherosclerosis** (Cell Metabolism, May 7, 2013). A study published in *Cell Metabolism* on May 7, 2013, with Goldberg as senior author from Columbia's Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition, traced a mechanism from blood sugar to arterial inflammation.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3992275/) High blood glucose stimulates neutrophils to release the protein calprotectin (S100A8/S100A9), which travels to the bone marrow and binds the RAGE receptor on common myeloid progenitor cells, driving proliferation of myeloid progenitors, and more neutrophils and monocytes that enter arterial plaques.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3992275/) • [8](https://www.newswise.com/articles/type-1-diabetes-and-heart-disease-linked-by-inflammatory-protein) Normalizing the mice's blood glucose dampened the pathway, reduced monocytosis and monocyte entry into lesions, and promoted regression of atherosclerosis.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3992275/) • [8](https://www.newswise.com/articles/type-1-diabetes-and-heart-disease-linked-by-inflammatory-protein)
## Beyond glucose: his argument in context
The 2021 review **"Cardiovascular disease in diabetes, beyond glucose"** (Cell Metabolism, volume about 33, pages 1,520–1,540+) makes a direct challenge to glucose-centered diabetes care.[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X) Its premise is that clinical trials do not unambiguously show that intensive glycemic control reduces cardiovascular events, so factors beyond hyperglycemia must drive atherosclerosis in diabetes.[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X) The review notes that trials have overwhelmingly shown a beneficial effect of LDL-C lowering, and some additional benefit of targeting inflammation, while the roles of glucose reduction, triglyceride lowering, and blood pressure control are less clear.[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X) It calls for increased effort to identify risk factors beyond glucose to prevent the increased cardiovascular disease risk associated with diabetes.[4](https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X)
The field has moved in this direction. Following cardiovascular outcome trials of antihyperglycemic medications over the past eight years, care for type 2 diabetes has shifted from control of hyperglycemia to managing cardiovascular risk.[9](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11255726/) The 2023 [European Society of Cardiology](https://www.edgepedia.org/european-society-of-cardiology) guideline, for the first time, recommends both SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists for mitigation of cardiovascular risk in people with or at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease.[9](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11255726/) That is the therapeutic expression of the beyond-glucose framing: drug classes chosen for cardiovascular benefit rather than for glucose lowering alone.
## Roles beyond academia
Goldberg has published over 200 articles.[7](https://eas-society.org/contributor/ira-goldberg/) His named lectures include the 2007 R. Levy Lecture of the [American Heart Association](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-heart-association)'s NPAM committee, the 2010 E. Bierman Lecture at the [American Diabetes Association](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-diabetes-association) meeting, and the 2017 George Lyman Duff Lecture of the ATVB council.[1](https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg) • [7](https://eas-society.org/contributor/ira-goldberg/)
Through the NIDDK Diabetic Complications Consortium (DiaComp), his pilot projects, supported by NIDDK grants DK076169 and DK115255, tested whether glucose reduction via SGLT2 inhibitors corrects diabetes-related changes in circulating white blood cells and inflammatory lesional cells in atherosclerotic mice.[10](https://diacomp.org/shared/showMember.aspx?archive=1&id=123) He received American Heart Association funding for the Cholesterol Lowering and Residual Risk in Type 2 Diabetes (CHORD) trial.[6](https://physicianfocus.nyulangone.org/untangling-mechanisms-of-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease-risk/)
## Recent developments
The follow-up trial CHORD1 (Cholesterol Lowering and Residual Risk in Diabetes, Type 1) is a prospective, interventional, cohort study at five sites in the New York City area, comparing the effects of cholesterol reduction in type 1 diabetes patients with the CHORD type 2 results.[6](https://physicianfocus.nyulangone.org/untangling-mechanisms-of-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease-risk/) His lab also continues the plaque-regression work: in a diabetic mouse model expressing aldose reductase at human levels, overexpressing the glucose-metabolizing enzyme under hyperglycemia totally prevented atherosclerosis regression, suggesting that if sugar is aberrantly modified, repair cannot occur.[2](https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease)
## References
1. Ira J. Goldberg, MD, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/ira-j-goldberg
2. Tracking the Metabolic Path from Diabetes to Cardiovascular Disease, NYU Langone News. https://nyulangone.org/news/tracking-metabolic-path-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease
3. Hyperglycemia promotes myelopoiesis and impairs the resolution of atherosclerosis, Cell Metabolism, 2013. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3992275/
4. https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00317-X
5. Curriculum Vitae, Ira Jay Goldberg, MD. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/9910776/1-curriculum-vitae-ira-jay-goldberg-md-personal-harvard-
6. Untangling Mechanisms of Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Risk, NYU Langone Physician Focus. https://physicianfocus.nyulangone.org/untangling-mechanisms-of-diabetes-cardiovascular-disease-risk/
7. Ira Goldberg, European Atherosclerosis Society contributor profile. https://eas-society.org/contributor/ira-goldberg/
8. Type 1 Diabetes and Heart Disease Linked by Inflammatory Protein, Newswise/Columbia University Medical Center, 2013. https://www.newswise.com/articles/type-1-diabetes-and-heart-disease-linked-by-inflammatory-protein
9. New Perspectives in Management of Cardiovascular Risk Among People With Diabetes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11255726/
10. DiaComp Member Profile, Ira Goldberg. https://diacomp.org/shared/showMember.aspx?archive=1&id=123
11. Dr. Marcus Goncalves Named Director of NYU Langone’s Holman Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism | NYU Langone News. https://nyulangone.org/news/dr-marcus-goncalves-named-director-nyu-langones-holman-division-endocrinology-diabetes-metabolism
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine research › Lipid metabolism and hyperlipidemia*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license