As part of the cancellation of $400 million of federal funding at Columbia University, funding for the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS) was immediately  terminated by NIH without prior notice on March 10th, 2025. Although Columbia University is the primary recipient of this grant, more than 90% of funds go to research activities at 30 institutions outside of Columbia across 21 states. DPPOS addresses the research priorities related to prevention of diabetes and dementia, highlighted as a priority by the new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.  Persons with pre-diabetes and diabetes, represent over half of the older adult population in the United States, but have not been included in recent advances made in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. DPPOS addresses this critical need. The DPPOS study cohort is perhaps the largest and longest-running study on lifestyle interventions for diabetes prevention globally. Over 3 decades, the study has demonstrated that diabetes can be prevented or delayed and amassed a wealth of data and stored specimens to answer outstanding public health research questions. The loss of longitudinal data and research infrastructure poses a significant risk to scientific advancements in diabetes prevention and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Key facts about DPPOS: 

• The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) established that type 2 diabetes can be prevented. The results were announced in 2002 at a press conference by Tommy Thompson, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services at the time. The DPP lifestyle program has been endorsed by CDC and is now supported by Medicare.

• DPPOS is the long-term follow up of the DPP cohort, and is currently studying Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia, in addition to continuing to study the long-term effects of diabetes prevention on other health conditions such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, nerve damage, kidney disease, eye disease, and cancer.

• DPPOS addresses the National Alzheimer’s Project Act goal to “prevent, halt, or reverse Alzheimer’s disease” in the high-risk group of persons with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.

• In 2022, a single award for DPPOS activities was given to Columbia University, from which. However, over 90% of funds are spent outside of Columbia at 30 institutions distributed across the United States.

• DPP Research Group has published over 200 scientific articles.