Dr. Tryggestad completed medical school, completed her residency, and became an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
Clinical/Research Interests:
Dr. Tryggestad's clinical Interests are T2DM, T1DM and Turner Syndrome and her research interests are T2DM in youth, Impact of Maternal Diabetes on Offspring, Vascular function in obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Tryggestad's research interest lies in the effect of maternal diabetes on future obesity and T2DM in the offspring. Her current work seeks to identify the mechanism by which maternal hyperglycemia in utero “programs” the offspring for type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic disease. They have shown that miRNA are differentially expressed in the umbilical vein endothelial cells of infants of diabetic mothers compared with infants born to mothers with euglycemia. They postulate that maternal DM elicits changes in fetal miRNA expression that impact cardiometabolic health in the offspring. In the long term, their goal is to understand the molecular and cellular processes that are altered by the diabetic milieu that result in cardiometabolic complications including obesity and diabetes in the offspring of women with diabetes and developing new prevention and treatment strategies altering the molecular and cellular changes that are identified to prevent T2DM and its complications.
Additionally, she has been a site co-investigator within the multi-center trial, Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and youth (TODAY). The study initially focused on optimal treatment of T2DM in youth, but is now focusing on the complications and comorbidities that are associated with diabetes in youth which has been her focus. She has specifically examined cardiovascular and pregnancy outcomes within the cohort.