Welcome to Imperial Valley Endocrine

What is an Endocrinologist?

An endocrinologist is a specially trained doctor. Endocrinologists diagnose diseases that affect your glands. They know how to treat conditions that are often complex and involve many systems within your body. Your primary care doctor refers you to an endocrinologist when you have a problem with your endocrine system.
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What is the Endocrine System?

The endocrine system is a complex group of glands. Glands are organs that make hormones. These are substances that help to control activities in your body. Hormones control reproduction, metabolism (food burning and waste elimination), and growth and development.

Hormones also control the way you respond to your surroundings, and they help to provide the proper amount of energy and nutrition your body needs to function.

The endocrine glands include the thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, ovaries, testes, adrenal, pituitary and hypothalamus.

What do Endocrinologists Do?

Endocrinologists are trained to diagnose and treat hormone problems by helping to restore the normal balance of hormones in your system. They take care of many conditions including:
  • diabetes
  • thyroid diseases
  • metabolic disorders
  • over or under production of hormones
  • osteoporosis
  • hypertension
  • cholesterol (lipid) disorders
  • infertility
  • lack of growth
  • cancers of the endocrine glands
Endocrinologists also conduct basic research to learn the way glands work as well as clinical research to learn the best methods to treat patients. Through research, endocrinologists develop new drugs and treatments for hormone problems.

What Type of Medical Training do Endocrinologists Receive?

Endocrinologists finish four years of medical school and then spend three or four years in an internship and residency program. These specialty programs cover internal medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics and gynecology. They spend two or three more years learning how to diagnose and treat hormone conditions. Overall, an endocrinologist's training will take more than 10 years.*

For more about the Endocrine System go to: http://www.hormone.org/endo101/
We are not responsible for the contents provided in the links. If you have questions about the content of these links, please contact the organization directly.

*Courtesy of The Hormone Foundation

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Original illustration created by Diane Abeloff, 2002