Professor Umpleby obtained her first degree in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and her PhD from the University of London. She held various academic appointments between 1982 and 2005 at UMDS subsequently Kings College London. She was appointed Professor of Human Metabolism at Surrey University in 2005. She is a member of the Medical Research Council College of Experts and is Associate Editor of the journal Growth Hormone and IGF Research. In 2005 her research group was awarded the International Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism for their paper describing the role of IGF-I in the control of metabolism in type 1 diabetes.

She is an international expert on the use of stable isotopes for the study of human metabolism. Her research aims to understand the mechanisms that lead to insulin resistance and abnormalities in fatty acid and lipoprotein metabolism in diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and non alcoholic fatty liver disease. She works in partnership with researchers in the division of Nutrition and with clinicians at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. Her research group also works closely with the Pharmaceutical Industry in the investigation of new treatments.

Her expertise has led to collaborations worldwide and over 90 peer reviewed publications. She has received over £3.5m in research funding in the last 10 years from the BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, BHF, Heart Research UK, Diabetes UK, European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes and the Pharmaceutical industry.

The research strategy of the department focuses on:

understanding the underlying mechanisms that lead to metabolic abnormalities in diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and non alcoholic fatty liver disease. the translation of this understanding into effective treatment.

Shojaee-Moradie F, Cuthbertson DJ, Barrett M, Jackson NC, Herring R, Thomas EL, Bell J, Kemp GJ, Wright J, Umpleby M. (2016) 'Exercise training reduces liver fat and increases rates of VLDL clearance, but not VLDL production in NAFLD'. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, doi: 10.1210/jc.2016-2353 Cuthbertson DJ, Shojaee-Moradie F, Sprung VS, Jones H, Pugh CJ, Richardson P, Kemp GJ, Barrett M, Jackson NC, Thomas EL, Bell JD, Umpleby AM. (2015) 'Dissociation between exercise-induced reduction in liver fat and changes in hepatic and peripheral glucose homoeostasis in obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.'. Clinical Science, 130 (2), pp. 93-104. doi: 10.1042/CS20150447 Herring R, Knight R, Shojaee-Moradie F, Johnsen S, Umpleby AM, Jackson N, Jones R, Dijk D-J, Russell-Jones DL. (2015) 'Effect of subcutaneous insulin detemir on glucose flux, lipolysis and electroencephalography in type 1 diabetes'. DIABETES OBESITY & METABOLISM, 17 (11), pp. 1100-1103. doi: 10.1111/dom.12553