Nazia Raja-khan MS, MD

Dr. Nazia T. Raja-Khan, MS, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Penn State College of Medicine. She is a physician-scientist, clinical endocrinologist, and the founder of the Penn State Mindfulness Research Group. Her primary research interests are in the fields of mindfulness, behavioral medicine, diabetes, prediabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and obesity. She has multiple peer-reviewed publications, and her research has been presented at national and regional scientific meetings.

Dr. Raja-Khan’s ongoing research is focused on understanding how mindfulness-based interventions can be optimized for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. She is the principal investigator of an NIH randomized controlled trial on stress reduction programs in adults with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. She is also the PI of a pilot study of a mobile-app-based mindful eating intervention.

As the PI of an NIH K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development grant, Dr. Raja-Khan completed a pilot randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) compared to health education control in overweight or obese women, including women with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and PCOS. This study found that MBSR significantly increased mindfulness and decreased fasting glucose and subjective stress.

Dr. Raja-Khan is a frequent presenter at Endocrinology Grand Rounds at Penn State College of Medicine and is a lecturer on diabetes and mindfulness as well as PCOS. She has been a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals and research grant review committees.

Dr. Raja-Khan held the Laurence M. Demers Career Development Professorship in Pathology and Medicine, established to support the early career development of faculty involved in clinical chemistry and/or endocrinology research at the College of Medicine, from 2012 to 2015.