Daryl K. Granner Biographical File

Daryl K. Granner, MD, served as chair of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center.

Dr. Granner and his colleagues made major contributions to understanding how insulin and glucocorticoids regulate genes that are important for glucose metabolism by the liver, and the role that altered metabolism plays in insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.

Recruited in 1984 to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to chair the Department of Physiology (later renamed the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics), he helped bring it to national prominence with its diabetes research and leadership in the school’s Medical Scientist Training Program.

Born in Algona, Iowa, Dr. Granner earned his bachelor’s, master’s and medical degrees from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

After completing his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, he completed a research fellowship in molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and received further training in clinical endocrinology at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1970, Dr. Granner returned to the University of Iowa as a faculty member and director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism. He later founded the Molecular Endocrinology Training Program and served as the first director of the university’s NIH-funded Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center.

At Vanderbilt, Dr. Granner introduced molecular technology and novel biophysical methods to the Department of Physiology and oversaw the creation of several research cores — facilities with expert-managed technologies in specialized techniques like genomics and microscopy. In 1993, Dr. Granner was appointed director of the NIH-funded Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC), which was founded in 1973 under the leadership of Oscar Crofford, MD. Today it is a key part of the NIH Diabetes Research Center network.

He also led the development of the Eskind Diabetes Clinic, which opened in 2005. Dr. Granner stepped down as center director in 2007 and retired from the faculty the following year.

During a research career that spanned five decades, Dr. Granner co-authored more than 250 scientific publications. His extensive research funding included two NIH MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) grants, awarded for investigations judged most likely to improve human health. Among his many honors were the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumnus for Achievement Award and, in 2017, the American Diabetes Association Albert Renold Award, for distinguished service in mentorship and training diabetes researchers.

He died Friday, April 17, in Iowa City, Iowa. He was 89.

Excerpted from Vanderbilt Health News April 21, 2016 written by Bill Snyder. https://news.vumc.org/2026/04/21/vanderbilt-mourns-daryl-granner-md-leader-of-diabetes-research-and-training/