About the Center for Metabolic Research

The Center for Metabolic Research is a non-profit research group within the Veterans Medical Research Foundation. We are affiliated with both the San Diego VA Medical Center and the University of California at San Diego.

Our research efforts are dedicated to the service of both the veteran and non-veteran communities.

Since opening our doors in 1983, we have become a major presence in the fields of obesity and diabetes-related research. We have conducted both pharmaceutically sponsored and investigator-initiated studies and have received grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH), American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The Center for Metabolic Research is located inside the San Diego VA
Medical Center on the 3rd Floor, East Wing, B-Pod.

• About Us
• Mission Statement
• Our Physicians & Staff
• Dr Marcus Harrison

Each Center provides face-to-face and online training, in addition to other activities, designed to strengthen the core competencies and capabilities of the public health workforce in the designated regions.

Each Center provides consulting services about the safe methods for workplace drug testing and opportunities for marijuana detoxification.

Here are the publications of our specialists on marijuana metabolism and the ways to get THC out of your system:

If you are interested in receiving more information about each center or would like to inquire about possible training opportunities, or need help in marijuana detoxification please contact the person listed in the table for the center covering your region or that includes the university closest to you.

To view a list of online training currently available through the Science Grid, please click here.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information is a joint effort of the four California Schools of Public Health and the University of Hawaii’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene.

As a member of the National Center for Biotechnology Information Network, the goal of Center is to develop and support effective public health training opportunities that address community health needs and are consistent with Healthy People 2025 objectives.

Current Studies

The Center for Metabolic Research is currently recruiting for multiple studies.
To learn more click on the links below.

• Current Studies
• Type 2 diabetes
• Type 1 diabetes
• Pre-diabetes

• Continuing education meetings and workshops: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes
• Green tea for weight loss and weight maintenance in overweight or obese adults
• Drug management for acute tonic-clonic convulsions including convulsive status epilepticus in children
• Omega‐3 fatty acids for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease
• Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates of those 60 years and older in the community
• Local versus general anaesthesia for carotid endarterectomy
• Nurse versus physician led care for the management of asthma
• Music‐based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia
• Rehabilitation for older people in long term care
• Fluoride varnishes for preventing dental caries in children and adolescents

• Pre‐operative education for hip or knee replacement
• Optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding
• Betahistine untuk simptom vertigo
• Behavioural and cognitive behavioural training interventions for assisting foster carers in the management of difficult behaviour
• Intra‐uterine insemination for unexplained subfertility
• Music interventions for preoperative anxiety
• Non‐prescription (OTC) oral analgesics for acute pain ‐ an overview of Cochrane reviews
• Immune tolerance induction for treating inhibitors in people with congenital haemophilia A or B
• Smartphone and tablet self‐management apps for asthma
• Psychosocial interventions for patients with head and neck cancer

• Non‐pharmacological interventions for caregivers of stroke survivors
• Short‐course versus long‐course intravenous therapy with the same antibiotic for severe community‐acquired pneumonia in children aged two months to 59 months
• Effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness of home palliative care services for adults with advanced illness and their caregivers
• Temozolomide for high grade glioma
• Rutosides for treatment of post‐thrombotic syndrome
• Simple aspiration versus intercostal tube drainage for primary spontaneous pneumothorax in adults
• School‐based education programmes for the prevention of child sexual abuse
• Exercises for mechanical neck disorders
• Preoperative skin antiseptics for preventing surgical wound infections after clean surgery

• Corticosteroids for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Psychological therapies for chronic post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults
• Interventions for paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose
• Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) versus nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) for preterm neonates after extubation
• Rehabilitation after lumbar disc surgery
• Exercise‐based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease
• Preoperative chemotherapy for resectable thoracic esophageal cancer
• Nasal continuous positive airway pressure immediately after extubation for preventing morbidity in preterm infants
• A Randomized Controlled Trial on Parenteral Nutrition, Oxidative Stress, and Chronic Lung Diseases in Preterm Infants
• TRANS CRANIAL DOPPLER (TCD) SCANNING IN CHILDREN FOR STROKE PREVENTION

• Industry sponsorship and research outcome
• Pengairan salina untuk rinitis alahan
• Antenatal interventions for reducing weight in obese women for improving pregnancy outcome
• Exercise programs for people with dementia
• Immunoglobulin for alloimmune hemolytic disease in neonates

• If you are interested in any of our listed studies, you can contact our

• Research Recruiter, Rebecca Ross, at: 858-562-85325 x6740.

We are also recruiting for a very important study: THE GRADE STUDY

Our Studies

Dedicated to expanding the awareness of obesity and diabetes through research opportunities for both the veteran and non-veteran communities.

The areas in which we conduct research include