Leslie J. Raffel, MD is Associate Director of the Common Diseases Genetics Program at Cedars-Sinai. Dr Raffel also serves as Executive Chair of Cedars-Sinai's Institutional Review Boards and Assistant Program Director for the General Clinical Research Center. In addition, she is an associate professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to joining the faculty at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Raffel was Director of Clinical Genetics and an assistant professor of pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology at University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Dr. Raffel's research focuses on delineation of the genetic basis of susceptibility to common adult-onset diseases, including Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus and its complications, hypertension and coronary artery disease. Board certified in both pediatrics and clinical genetics, she has written numerous scientific articles related to her research, as well as book chapters on the genetics of diabetes and common disease genetics.
A founding fellow of the American Board of Medical Genetics, Dr. Raffel is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the International Genetic Epidemiology Society, the American Diabetes Association, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the American Federation for Clinical Research and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Raffel received a master's degree in genetics from the Pennsylvania State University and her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Her pediatric residency was completed at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, followed by a clinical and research fellowship in medical genetics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
