Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Faculty

The Faculty at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School provides a diverse range of expertise in Diabetes and Metabolism, Pituitary disorders, Bone and Calcium disease, Transgender medicine, Thyroid disease, Adrenal disease, and Neuroendocrine tumors.

David Bleich, MD

Professor of Medicine
Director, Division of Endorinology

Faculty Profile

Dr. Bleich is Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism and Professor of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Nationally recognized expert in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and has played leadership roles in diabetes organizations including the American Diabetes Association the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, and the Department of Defense Diabetes Grant Review. Dr. Bleich has conducted grant-funded bench research in pancreatic beta-cell function and has spent >10,000 hours caring for individuals with diabetes, as well as mentoring and teaching medical students, residents and endocrine fellows.

Present interest and focus is improving the quality of diabetes care and developing a data-driven holistic approach to patient care. Strong education professional as Fellowship Director of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Rutgers and fellowship training from Harvard Medical School.

Sree S. Kowsika, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Sree Kowsika is an Assistant Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She obtained her medical degree from Osmania Medical College in India and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kowsika subsequently served as an attending physician in Hospital Medicine before pursuing a fellowship in Obesity Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She continued her specialized training with a fellowship in Endocrinology at Rutgers NJMS. Her professional interests span obesity, endocrinology, and diabetes, and she is committed to advancing clinical care and medical education in these fields.

Monique T. Malvar, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Malvar was born and raised in the Philippines and graduated cum laude both in nursing and medical school from the University of Santo Tomas, the first medical school of the country. Throughout her education, she focused on serving underserved communities and participated in various medical missions. After completing her internal medicine residency in New York during the COVID pandemic, she pursued an Endocrinology Fellowship at Rutgers NJMS. She enjoys relationships with patients, collaborative care in navigating their conditions, and teamwork.

Simge Yuksel, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Yuksel is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Koc University School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Yuksel completed her Internal Medicine residency training at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Following this, she completed a fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. In clinical practice, she focuses on all types of endocrine diseases with a special interest in weight management and transgender medicine. She recently joined the Obesity Medicine Program faculty at University Hospital Weight Management Center. Dr. Yuksel participated in translational and clinical research studies at University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK, Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California and Rush University in Chicago, Illinois. She is currently working on a translational research project on thyroid cancer.

John Shin, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. Shin has been a practicing Endocrinologist since 2003. He is an Attending Endocrinologist at the New Jersey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VANJ). He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and an M.D. from St. George’s University School of Medicine. He then completed an Internal Medicine residency at The New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens followed by a fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at S.U.N.Y – Downstate Medical Center.

During his fellowship training under Drs. James Sowers and Samy McFarlane he was an investigator in the diabetes prevention trial, the DREAM study. During his time at the VA Medical Center, he was involved in clinic trials as a site principal investigator for the Origin Trial (Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention), a sub-investigator in the VA Cooperative Study, Glycemic Control and Complications in Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, and the EXSCEL study to Evaluate Cardiovascular Outcomes After Treatment with Exenatide once weekly in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although his clinical trial interests have centered on diabetes mellitus, he was instrumental in starting the endocrine division’s ultrasound guided thyroid biopsy for the fellowship program and initiated the insulin pump program at the VANJ.

He enjoys working with medical students, house staff and fellows and enjoys collaborative case discussions. On his days off he enjoys spending time with his wife and children, watching documentaries and Premier League Soccer, reading, going out to restaurants, playing tennis/pickleball/golf, and traveling.