I am an adult endocrinologist who aims to improve diabetes treatments and prevention strategies. I perform clinical work at Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, and hold honorary appointments at the Royal Children’s Hospital and WEHI.

My research focuses on screening to detect type 1 diabetes early and preserving beta cell function with disease-modifying immune therapies. I was the first to introduce at-home finger prick screening for type 1 diabetes, now widely used in Australia and being adopted in other countries. I also lead many clinical trials involving people with early-stage diabetes to determine the safest and most effective disease-modifying therapies. I was the lead clinical investigator of the SVI-sponsored BANDIT trial that showed oral immunotherapy with baricitinib preserves beta cell function.

I collaborate widely with national and international colleagues to run several clinical trials at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and The Royal Children’s Hospital. I head the Australasian T1D Immunotherapy Collaborative (ATIC), lead the Type1Screen national islet autoantibody screening program and am a co-investigator for the ENDIA birth-cohort study and the National Screening Pilot.


Find out more about ATIC

Key Achievements

2024:  Council Member, Australian Diabetes Society
2024: Australian Diabetes Society Wikramanayake Award
2023: Finalist, Victorian Public Healthcare Celebrating Innovation in Healthcare Award
2023: Australian Diabetes Society Jeff Flack Diabetes Data Award
2023: Principal Investigator, T1D-Plus combination therapy trial
2022: Principal Investigator, Australasian Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy Collaborative
2021: ENDIA Study Executive Committee Member
2020: Subspecialty Editor (Endocrinology) Internal Medicine Journal
2019: Principal Investigator, Type1Screen
2018: Deputy Head (Research) Royal Melbourne Hospital Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology
2012: Australasian TrialNet Center Director

Immunology

We study the precise mechanisms by which T cells destroy beta cells – the ultimate cause of type 1 diabetes – and test ways to prevent this from happening.

Lab head: Professor Tom Kay

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Wentworth JM, Sing ABE, Naselli G, Huang D, Azidis-Yates A, Mandlebe B, Brown JD, McGorm K, Hall C, Redl L, Kludas R, Haldar A, Healy F, Gilbert A, Watson K, Chiang C, Couper John Wentworth , Huynh T, Davis EA, Craig ME, Cameron FJ, Kay TW, Harrison LC, Colman PG. Islet autoantibody screening throughout Australia using in-home blood spot sampling: two-year outcomes of Type1Screen. Diabetes Care, accepted January 2025.

Sing A, Naselli G, Huang D, Watson K, Colman PG, Harrison LC, Wentworth JM. Feasibility and validity of in-home self-collected capillary blood spot screening for type 1 diabetes risk. Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, 2024 26:87-94.

Waibel M, Wentworth JM, So M, Couper JJ, Cameron FJ, MacIsaac RJ, Atlas G, Gorelik A, Litwak S, Sanz-Villanueva L, Trivedi P, Ahmed S, Martin FJ, Doyle ME, Harbison JE, Hall C, Krishnamurthy B, Colman PG, Harrison LC, Thomas HE, Kay THW. Baricitinib and β-Cell Function in Patients with New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes. New England Journal of Medicine, 2023 389:2140-50.

Russell WE, Bundy BN, Anderson MS, Cooney LA, Gitelman SE, Goland RS, Gottlieb PA, Greenbaum CJ, Haller MJ, Krischer JP, Libman IM, Linsley PS, Long SA, Lord SM, Moore DJ, Moore WV, Moran AM, Muir AB, Raskin P, Skyler JS, Wentworth JM, Wherrett DK, Wilson DM, Ziegler AG, Herold KC; Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Study Group. Abatacept for Delay of Type 1 Diabetes Progression in Stage 1 Relatives at Risk: A Randomized, Double-Masked, Controlled Trial. Diabetes Care, 2023 46:1005-13.

Wentworth JM, Oakey H, Craig ME, Couper JJ, Cameron FJ, Davis EA, Lafferty AR, Harris M, Wheeler BJ, Jefferies C, Colman PG, Harrison LC. Decreased occurrence of ketoacidosis and preservation of beta cell function in relatives screened and monitored for type 1 diabetes in Australia and New Zealand. Pediatric Diabetes, 2022 23:1594-601.

Bediaga NG, Li-Wai-Suen CSN, Haller MJ, Gitelman SE, Evans-Molina C, Gottlieb PA, Hippich M, Ziegler A, Lernmark A, DiMeglio LA, Wherrett DK, Colman PG, Harrison LC, Wentworth JM. Simplifying prediction of disease progression in pre-symptomatic type 1 diabetes using a single blood sample. Diabetologia, 2021 64:2432-44.