Dr. DiStefano received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from Kent State University and obtained her post-doctoral training in human genetics at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorder branch of the National Institutes of Health. At NIDDK, Dr. DiStefano's work identified genetic variants that contribute to diabetes susceptibility in American Indians. Dr. DiStefano concurrently holds appointments as an Adjunct faculty member in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, is an investigator with the Southwestern American Indian Center, a member of the Steering and Molecular Genetics Subcommittees of the Gfamily Investigation in Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND) study, and a member of the Scientific Review Panel of the American Diabetes Association and the Clinical and Integrative Diabetes and Obesity (CIDO) study section of the National Institutes of Health.

 identification of the genes and molecular pathways that make individuals susceptible to type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications, genome-wide approaches, high throughput sequencing, in vitro model systems, and expression studies, to identify genes involved in the development and progression of renal failure attributed to diabetes (both type 1 and type 2), anti-diabetic drug therapies, Prospective and retroactive investigations, Cardiovascular Disease.