Kanakadurga Singer, MA, MD

Dr. Singer completed her undergraduate degree in Biophysics and Philosophy along with a Master’s degree in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. She then came to University of Michigan for her medical school, Pediatrics Residency and Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship training.

In 2012 she joined as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and Division of Pediatric Endocrinology. In 2015 she became affiliated with the Cellular and Molecular Biology Program as well as the Graduate Program in Immunology. From 2019-2022 she served as the Associate Director for the Graduate Program in Immunology and a Physician Advisor in Faculty Development. In 2022 she became the Assistant Dean for Tenure Track Faculty at the Medical School.

As a Pediatric Endocrinologist, seeing patients in a clinical setting struggling with obesity and diabetes she has chosen to focus on gaining knowledge on these diseases. Her area of focus has been to understand the long-term and life long impacts of obesity on the immune system and sex differences in metabolic and inflammatory responses to high fat diet.

1. Understanding mechanisms driving obesity induced inflammation.
2. Sex differences in meta-inflammation.
3. The impact of obesity-induced inflammation on life-long immune system function.
4. Translational impact of meta-inflammation in adolescent obesity.