Dr. Rhodes has over 40 years experience in diabetes/obesity/metabolic research, mostly focused molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of diabetes and obesity, including related metabolic diseases and complications. He is a leading expert on metabolism, metabolic regulation and signal transduction He trained at the University of London obtaining his PhD in Biochemistry, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the Joslin Diabetes Center and the University of Cambridge. He then had faculty positions at the Joslin Diabetes Center/Harvard Medical School, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, the Pacific Northwest Research Institute/University of Washington in Seattle, then at the University of Chicago as Research Director of the Kovler Diabetes Center and Chair of the Biomedical Sciences Cluster graduate programs. In 2015, he was recruited by MedImmune/AstraZenca as Vice President for Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic Disease (CVRM) Research & Development at MedImmune and is now the Senior Chief Scientist in CVRM at AstraZeneca. He retains a Professorship Emeritus at the University of Chicago.

Prof. Rhodes has always been dedicated to scientific education and developing the next generations of young scientists. He has trained >50 MD/PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in his laboratory. He is currently Chair of the global AstraZeneca Postdoctoral Program, and leads many industry-academic educational collaborations in the US

Prof. Rhodes has received many awards for his diabetes, obesity and metabolic disease research, He has been a regular member and led many research grant review committees, been on the Editorial Board of key scientific journals, sat on various academic and industry scientific advisory boards in the area of diabetes/obesity/metabolic disease drug development, and on panels to advocate, discovery and develop new areas of research for metabolic disease and related complications.