Her research has addressed the physiological, cellular, and molecular defects underlying the development of obesity and diabetes mellitus and their prevention, as well as the long-term prevention of diabetic complications. Dr. Hansen has developed nonhuman primate models of obesity, the metabolic syndrome, diabetes and diabetic complications, and these models are applied to studies of the underlying mechanisms of these disorders, their natural history, and their mitigation/treatment and prevention by pharmaceutical and non- pharmaceutical approaches. Her research program has informed patient/human studies as well, for extension of non-human primate findings to human health and disease mechanisms is of greatest importance.