About

Paul Franks is the Robert F. and Patricia Weis Professor of Philosophy and Judaic Studies, and also serves as a Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University. His areas of interest include Kant, German Idealism, Post-Kantian Analytic Philosophy, Neo-Kantianism and Phenomenology, Jewish Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Metaphysics and Epistemology, and the Philosophy of the Human Sciences. He is actively involved in academic leadership as the Department Chair of the Department of Philosophy. His scholarly work encompasses a range of philosophical traditions and historical periods, with a focus on systematicity, transcendental arguments, and skepticism within German Idealism, as well as the philosophical and theological writings of Franz Rosenzweig. His contributions to philosophy are reflected in his publications, including the 'International Yearbook of German Idealism 2009: Faith and Reason,' 'All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism,' and 'Franz Rosenzweig: Philosophical and Theological Writings.' His research bridges historical philosophical movements and contemporary analytic philosophy, emphasizing the enduring relevance of German Idealism and Jewish philosophical thought.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Endocrinology
• Political Science
• Genetics
• Biology
• Family medicine
• Intensive care medicine
• Pathology
• Evolutionary biology
• Environmental health
• Physical therapy
• Bioinformatics
• Virology
• Gerontology
• Computational biology
• Demography
• Philosophy
• Immunology
• Physiology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Second international consensus report on gaps and opportunities for the clinical translation of precision diabetes medicine

  Nature Medicine · 2023 · 194 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Medicine
  • Family medicine

  Precision medicine is part of the logical evolution of contemporary evidence-based medicine that seeks to reduce errors and optimize outcomes when making medical decisions and health recommendations. Diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, many of whom will develop life-threatening complications and die prematurely. Precision medicine can potentially address this enormous problem by accounting for heterogeneity in the etiology, clinical presentation and pathogenesis of common forms of diabetes and risks of complications. This second international consensus report on precision diabetes medicine summarizes the findings from a systematic evidence review across the key pillars of precision medicine (prevention, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis) in four recognized forms of diabetes (monogenic, gestational, type 1, type 2). These reviews address key questions about the translation of precision medicine research into practice. Although not complete, owing to the vast literature on this topic, they revealed opportunities for the immediate or near-term clinical implementation of precision diabetes medicine; furthermore, we expose important gaps in knowledge, focusing on the need to obtain new clinically relevant evidence. Gaps include the need for common standards for clinical readiness, including consideration of cost-effectiveness, health equity, predictive accuracy, liability and accessibility. Key milestones are outlined for the broad clinical implementation of precision diabetes medicine.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Precision subclassification of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review

  Communications Medicine · 2023 · 92 citations

  • Political Science
  • Medicine
  • Political Science

  BACKGROUND: Heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes presentation and progression suggests that precision medicine interventions could improve clinical outcomes. We undertook a systematic review to determine whether strategies to subclassify type 2 diabetes were associated with high quality evidence, reproducible results and improved outcomes for patients. METHODS: We searched PubMed and Embase for publications that used 'simple subclassification' approaches using simple categorisation of clinical characteristics, or 'complex subclassification' approaches which used machine learning or 'omics approaches in people with established type 2 diabetes. We excluded other diabetes subtypes and those predicting incident type 2 diabetes. We assessed quality, reproducibility and clinical relevance of extracted full-text articles and qualitatively synthesised a summary of subclassification approaches. RESULTS: Here we show data from 51 studies that demonstrate many simple stratification approaches, but none have been replicated and many are not associated with meaningful clinical outcomes. Complex stratification was reviewed in 62 studies and produced reproducible subtypes of type 2 diabetes that are associated with outcomes. Both approaches require a higher grade of evidence but support the premise that type 2 diabetes can be subclassified into clinically meaningful subtypes. CONCLUSION: Critical next steps toward clinical implementation are to test whether subtypes exist in more diverse ancestries and whether tailoring interventions to subtypes will improve outcomes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Precision gestational diabetes treatment: a systematic review and meta-analyses

  Communications Medicine · 2023 · 29 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Intensive care medicine
  • Internal medicine

  BACKGROUND: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) affects approximately 1 in 7 pregnancies globally. It is associated with short- and long-term risks for both mother and baby. Therefore, optimizing treatment to effectively treat the condition has wide-ranging beneficial effects. However, despite the known heterogeneity in GDM, treatment guidelines and approaches are generally standardized. We hypothesized that a precision medicine approach could be a tool for risk-stratification of women to streamline successful GDM management. With the relatively short timeframe available to treat GDM, commencing effective therapy earlier, with more rapid normalization of hyperglycaemia, could have benefits for both mother and fetus. METHODS: We conducted two systematic reviews, to identify precision markers that may predict effective lifestyle and pharmacological interventions. RESULTS: There was a paucity of studies examining precision lifestyle-based interventions for GDM highlighting the pressing need for further research in this area. We found a number of precision markers identified from routine clinical measures that may enable earlier identification of those requiring escalation of pharmacological therapy (to metformin, sulphonylureas or insulin). This included previous history of GDM, Body Mass Index and blood glucose concentrations at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical measurements at diagnosis could potentially be used as precision markers in the treatment of GDM. Whether there are other sensitive markers that could be identified using more complex individual-level data, such as omics, and if these can feasibly be implemented in clinical practice remains unknown. These will be important to consider in future studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A saturated map of common genetic variants associated with human height

  Nature · 2022 · 877 citations

  • Genetics
  • Biology
  • Evolutionary biology

  ) account for 40% (45%) of phenotypic variance in populations of European ancestry but only around 10-20% (14-24%) in populations of other ancestries. Effect sizes, associated regions and gene prioritization are similar across ancestries, indicating that reduced prediction accuracy is likely to be explained by linkage disequilibrium and differences in allele frequency within associated regions. Finally, we show that the relevant biological pathways are detectable with smaller sample sizes than are needed to implicate causal genes and variants. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive map of specific genomic regions that contain the vast majority of common height-associated variants. Although this map is saturated for populations of European ancestry, further research is needed to achieve equivalent saturation in other ancestries.

  DOI

• Research gaps and opportunities in precision nutrition: an NIH workshop report

  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2022 · 91 citations

  • Political Science
  • Gerontology
  • Psychology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Attributes and predictors of long COVID

  Nature Medicine · 2021 · 2611 citations

  • Virology
  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  DOI

• Modest effects of dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from 445 850 users of the COVID-19 Symptom Study app

  BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health · 2021 · 141 citations

  • Medicine
  • Virology
  • Internal medicine

  OBJECTIVES: Dietary supplements may ameliorate SARS-CoV-2 infection, although scientific evidence to support such a role is lacking. We investigated whether users of the COVID-19 Symptom Study app who regularly took dietary supplements were less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. DESIGN: App-based community survey. SETTING: 445 850 subscribers of an app that was launched to enable self-reported information related to SARS-CoV-2 infection for use in the general population in the UK (n=372 720), the USA (n=45 757) and Sweden (n=27 373). MAIN EXPOSURE: Self-reported regular dietary supplement usage (constant use during previous 3 months) in the first waves of the pandemic up to 31 July 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by viral RNA reverse transcriptase PCR test or serology test before 31 July 2020. RESULTS: In 372 720 UK participants (175 652 supplement users and 197 068 non-users), those taking probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, multivitamins or vitamin D had a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by 14% (95% CI (8% to 19%)), 12% (95% CI (8% to 16%)), 13% (95% CI (10% to 16%)) and 9% (95% CI (6% to 12%)), respectively, after adjusting for potential confounders. No effect was observed for those taking vitamin C, zinc or garlic supplements. On stratification by sex, age and body mass index (BMI), the protective associations in individuals taking probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, multivitamins and vitamin D were observed in females across all ages and BMI groups, but were not seen in men. The same overall pattern of association was observed in both the US and Swedish cohorts. CONCLUSION: In women, we observed a modest but significant association between use of probiotics, omega-3 fatty acid, multivitamin or vitamin D supplements and lower risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. We found no clear benefits for men nor any effect of vitamin C, garlic or zinc. Randomised controlled trials are required to confirm these observational findings before any therapeutic recommendations can be made.

  DOI

• Effect of Metformin and Lifestyle Interventions on Mortality in the Diabetes Prevention Program and Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study

  Diabetes Care · 2021 · 98 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Endocrinology

  OBJECTIVE: To determine whether metformin or lifestyle modification can lower rates of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the Diabetes Prevention Program and Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: From 1996 to 1999, 3,234 adults at high risk for type 2 diabetes were randomized to an intensive lifestyle intervention, masked metformin, or placebo. Placebo and lifestyle interventions stopped in 2001, and a modified lifestyle program was offered to everyone, but unmasked study metformin continued in those originally randomized. Causes of deaths through 31 December 2018 were adjudicated by blinded reviews. All-cause and cause-specific mortality hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated from Cox proportional hazards regression models and Fine-Gray models, respectively. RESULTS: = 131). Compared with placebo, metformin did not influence mortality from all causes (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.79, 1.25]), cancer (HR 1.04 [95% CI 0.72, 1.52]), or cardiovascular disease (HR 1.08 [95% CI 0.70, 1.66]). Similarly, lifestyle modification did not impact all-cause (HR 1.02 [95% CI 0.81, 1.28]), cancer (HR 1.07 [95% CI 0.74, 1.55]), or cardiovascular disease (HR 1.18 [95% CI 0.77, 1.81]) mortality. Analyses adjusted for diabetes status and duration, BMI, cumulative glycemic exposure, and cardiovascular risks yielded results similar to those for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer was the leading cause of mortality among adults at high risk for type 2 diabetes. Although metformin and lifestyle modification prevented diabetes, neither strategy reduced all-cause, cancer, or cardiovascular mortality rates.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The trans-ancestral genomic architecture of glycemic traits

  Nature Genetics · 2021 · 877 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary biology
  DOI

• The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids

  Nature · 2021 · 1032 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary biology
  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U01HD072834

  NIH · $3.7M · 2019

• NIH Grant R01HS009963

  NIH · $356k · 2002

Frequent coauthors

• Jun Liu

  Suzhou University of Science and Technology

  1248 shared

• Wei Zhao

  Michigan United

  1217 shared

• Mark I. McCarthy

  University of Oxford

  948 shared

• Zhe Wang

  Zhejiang University

  942 shared

• Jun Liu

  University of California, San Francisco

  915 shared

• Nicholas J. Wareham

  MRC Epidemiology Unit

  861 shared

• Claudia Langenberg

  Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

  797 shared

• Wei Zhou

  XinHua Hospital

  772 shared

Education

• Docent, Experimental Medicine

  Umeå University, Sweden

  2007

• Post-doc, Genetic Epidemiology / Clinical physiology

  NIH (NIDDK), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

  2005

• PhD, Public Health & Primary Care

  University of Cambridge

  2003

• MPhil, Public Health & Primary Care

  University of Cambridge

  2000

• MSc, Postgraduate Medical School

  University of Exeter

  1998

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