Citation for the 2001 Fred Conrad Koch Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz
Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz is the 2001 recipient of the Fred Conrad
Koch Award, which is the highest honor The Endocrine Society bestows
for scientific achievement. Dr. Lefkowitz
is the James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and an
Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University
Medical Center. Dr. Lefkowitz is a scientist of enormous accomplishment
who has been a creative scientific pioneer in the most real sense of
the word. He and his colleagues have discovered, or initiated,
essentially all of the molecular, biochemical, and physiologic
principles that govern the superfamily of heptahelical G
protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which play such a prominent role in
almost every endocrine regulatory system.
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He stayed on at Columbia throughout medical school and Internal Medicine House staff training until he left New York in 1968 to try his hand at research at NIH. At NIH, he worked in the laboratories of Jesse Roth and Ira Pastan and became interested in ways to measure cell surface receptors. His initial model was the ACTH receptor, and after much difficulty and some false starts he succeeded in developing the first radioreceptor binding assay. However, the initial frustrations of the laboratory did not fill him with confidence or great enthusiasm for a long-term scientific career, and he decided to turn his attention back to clinical medicine. To get as far away from endocrinology research as possible, he signed up for a Senior Residency and then Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Fortunately for all of us, his second year at NIH was a different story. His experiments began to work, the data poured out, and he recognized his ability to ask scientific questions and find answers. Importantly, he realized his passion and love for the process. Infused with this renewed interest in science, Dr. Lefkowitz began his clinical training at the Mass General Hospital with one eye on research. He was quickly able to insinuate himself into a small alcove in Ed Habers lab where he conducted experiments in between the demands of a heavy clinical load. This is where he cultivated his initial interest in ß adrenergic receptors, while at the same time earning his credentials as a clinical cardiologist. It was this initial foray into ß adrenergic receptor function that has driven Dr. Lefkowitzs career ever since.
Having trained in the three major metropolitan meccas on the east coast, he opted for the less frenetic environs of Durham, NC, to pursue his academic career at Duke University. Although he still participates in General Medicine Attending, the major focus of Dr. Lefkowitzs career at Duke has been research. This has obviously been an exceptionally good fit, as Dr. Lefkowitzs scientific career continues to flourish at Duke 28 yr later. Although North Carolina has been his home since 1973, his pace, energy, and Bronx accent remain all New York.
Dr. Lefkowitzs scientific contributions are numerous and important
and have centered on the extraordinary superfamily of GPCRs, the
properties of which are remarkably conserved. The study of these
ubiquitous and versatile receptors has become one of the most pervasive
themes of current biomedical research. The pioneering work of Lefkowitz
largely created this field by initially demonstrating the conserved
structural and regulatory features of the two prototypic members of
this huge superfamily, the ß2-adrenergic
receptor (ß2AR) for catecholamines and the
visual "receptor" rhodopsin. At a time when there was no
biochemical approach to such molecules, he developed techniques that
led to: complete purification of the ß2AR;
demonstration of its biological activity in reconstituted systems; its
molecular cloning and discovery of its sequence homology and shared 7
membrane spanning topography with rhodopsin; and deciphering of the
structural basis of receptor function by construction of chimeric
and ßARs. That rhodopsin, the ß2AR and other
"heptahelical" receptors are actually members of a gene family was
not appreciated until the groundbreaking studies by Lefkowitz and
colleagues in 1986, which projected the heptahelical structure to the
entire superfamily of receptors. Moreover, his early cloning of
multiple adrenergic and serotonergic receptors made possible the
subsequent cloning of the vast multitude (>1000) of such receptors by
homology. He elucidated the major mechanisms regulating receptor
function, demonstrating that it is mediated by two highly conserved
families of proteins, the G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs),
and arrestins. He discovered the ßAR kinase, cloned the genes for all
six of the currently known members of the GRK family, discovered and
cloned the ß arrestins (molecules that bind to the phosphorylated
receptors to desensitize them), and documented the universality of this
mechanism for regulating signaling of heptahelical receptors. These
research accomplishments have earned him many honors and awards,
including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the
Institute of Medicine.
Those who know Bob have all experienced his infectious enthusiasm and the joy he brings to his work. He is genuinely excited about data, and this attitude infuses and motivates his laboratory group. He is also naturally funny, and if he wasnt a scientist, he would probably have been a stand up comedian. This great sense of humor also informs his work with a sense of playfulness, and he has been known to categorize research as a form of adult play. It is a great pleasure to help honor my friend and colleague, Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, with the Fred Conrad Koch Award of 2001.
Jerrold M. Olefsky
Citation for the 2001 Ernst Oppenheimer Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. John Scott
If you have a good scientific imagination, you can think of all sorts of things that might be true, and this is the essence of science. You first think of something that might be true, then you look to see if it is, and it generally isnt.
Bertrand Russell
Good scientific imagination is pretty rare. People with this characteristic can hone in on the shortcomings of the current models. They are somehow able to visualize the entirety of the system they are studying and can conceptualize the unifying principles of the unknown parts as well as the parts that are already understood. John Scotts ability to do this is extraordinary and is reminiscent of his mentor, Dr. Edwin Krebs.
John Scott began his scientific career examining the properties of the heat-stable inhibitor of PKA, the cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Working with his colleagues at the University of Washington, John went on to clone the type II regulatory subunit of the PKA holoenzyme. These studies filled a major gap in the understanding of cAMP signaling and became part of one of the most important paradigms in our field.
The extent of Johns scientific imagination became clear when he
started his own lab in the Vollum Institute. At this point, he became
interested in what was at the time an unasked, let alone unanswered,
question: How does the catalytic subunit of PKA find its targets in the
cell? He, along with Charles Rubin at the Einstein College of Medicine,
had noted that the type II regulatory subunit of PKA had the ability to
bind to a large number of proteins in cell extracts. Using a novel
technique called the protein overlay assay, Scott and Rubin found that
the RII regulatory subunits interacted with specific targets, that
these targets differed from one cell type to another, and that the
interactions depended on the RII dimerization interface. Scott went on
to show that these targets, termed A kinase anchoring proteins, or
AKAPs, interacted with RII through an amphipathic
helix in the
regulatory subunit dimer.
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The first of the AKAPs to be identified molecularly was Ht31, isolated from a thyroid expression library. In addition to being the first characterized target, Ht31 peptides provided a reagent to examine the functional roles of RII targeting within the cell. For example, with Gary Westbrook, John used these peptides to show that PKA anchoring was required for modulation of AMPA/kainate receptors in hippocampal neurons. AKAPs were subsequently shown to be involved in the modulation of many other ion channels and receptors. Later studies identified a host of additional AKAPs, each localized at discrete cellular sites. Moreover, John showed that in addition to directing the targeting of PKA, AKAPs served as a scaffold for coordinating the localization of multiple signaling molecules. The idea that complexes of kinases, phosphatases, and phosphodiesterases might be targeted to specific substrates through their ability to associate with AKAPs exemplifies Johns ability to conceptualize unifying principles and is now the focus of many laboratories throughout the world.
Current studies in the Scott lab are addressing the structural basis of RII and AKAP interaction and the physiological implications of the cross-talk among various AKAP signaling components. These studies promise to provide a new understanding of the machinery that allows the integration and transduction of information within the cell, a concept that is central to our field.
John came to the Vollum Institute at the Oregon Health Sciences University in 1990 and was promoted to senior scientist in 1997. He has been an associate investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the past 4 yr. In addition to his scientific activities, John has been an eager contributor to institute activities and is currently the Director of Academic Development, responsible for mentoring postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty. Johns service to the Vollum in much appreciated, and his work has had a major impact on the field of endocrinology. He is highly deserving of this years Ernst Oppenheimer Award.
Richard H. Goodman
Citation for the 2001 Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Jesse Roth
Dr. Jesse Roth was born and raised in New York City, receiving his
B.A. from Columbia and M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, where he was a member of the medical schools first
graduating class (1959). Among the
influential founding faculty were the co-discoverers of neurosecretion,
Ernst and Berta Scharrer, who introduced Roth to endocrine research,
and Harold Rifkin, who introduced him to the realities of the ravages
of diabetes. As an intern and resident in internal medicine at Barnes
Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis (19591961), Roth learned
from emerging young faculty, Dave Kipnis, Lillian Recant, Seymour
Reichlin, and Bill Daughaday. He sojourned in New York (19611963) as
an ADA research fellow at the Bronx Veterans Hospital, working with
co-fellow Seymour M. Glick under Solomon A. Berson and Nobel Laureate,
Rosalyn S. Yalow, co-discoverers of the RIA. The quartets work on the
immunoassay for GH, one of the first few immunoassays ever, introduced
stimulatory and suppression tests for GH secretion, including
insulin-induced hypoglycemia for diagnosis of GH deficiency and oral
glucose suppression for acromegaly. In 1963 Roth began a 28-yr career
at the NIHs National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases (NIDDK), initially as a clinical associate with J. Edward Rall
and Jacob Robbins and collaborator with Ira Pastan. From 19651991 (as
senior investigator, section and branch chief, and NIDDK scientific
director), he headed a diabetes research group that attracted
investigators from around the world, many of them young physicians.
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Roths achievements as a mentor were specifically recognized by the American Diabetes Associations Renold Award. Roths more than 400 publications with his colleagues included landmark studies on irradiation therapy for acromegaly; innovative work on the heterogeneity of circulating insulin and other hormones; and first called attention to the role of IGF-II in tumor-induced hypoglycemia. Roth and his group at the NIH are best known for their pioneering work on cell surface receptors. The emergence of receptors from total obscurity in the first part of this century to total equality now with the hormones (and other ligands) is in large measure a result of their studies in that era. Descriptions of the first G-linked receptor (ACTH), the first kinase receptor (insulin), and the first of the cytokine jak-stat linked receptors (GH) were part of the legacy of the group, as were some of the very first descriptions of diseases linked to receptors. That receptor concentrations and receptor affinities are not static but highly regulated under a wide range of conditions in vivo (including the role of the ligand as a regulator) was another contribution of the group. Five of his papers are listed as "Citation Classics," five are reprinted in the "Benchmark" series, and he has been among the most cited authors by Current Contents. This work has been recognized by numerous prizes and awards including the top young investigator prize of the ADA (Lilly) and The Endocrine Society (Ernst Oppenheimer), the award for outstanding scientific achievement of the ADA (Banting Medal) and of The Endocrine Society (Koch Award), honorary doctorates in the U.S., Italy, and Sweden, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Gairdner Award. He served as President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and member of the Council of The Endocrine Society. From 19911998, Dr. Roth served at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as the Raymond and Anna Lublin Professor of Medicine, Director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology and Head of the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging, where he studied endocrine disorders that relate to aging and mentored young investigators, especially in the genetic basis of obesity and type 2 diabetes. His young colleagues from Baltimore have received major awards in aging-related research, and Roth serves in numerous leadership roles in the field of aging. Roth moved back to New York where he served as President of The Picower Institute for Medical Research from 19981999. Since last year, he has been Geriatrician-in-Chief of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and continues as Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins. In 2001, he will receive The Endocrine Societys Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award.
Shlomo Melmed
Citation for the 2001 Edwin B. Astwood Award Lecture of The Endocrine Society to Dr. David L. Garbers
David Garbers interest in signal transduction began early in his
career. He received his bachelors degree and Ph.D. degree in
biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, where he worked with Dr.
Henry Lardy. Following postdoctoral
training at Vanderbilt University with Dr. Joel Hardman, he rose
through the professorial ranks there. He has been an investigator with
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1976. In 1990, Dr. Garbers
moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas,
where he is Professor of Pharmacology and holds the Patrick E. Haggerty
Distinguished Chair in Reproductive Biology Sciences. He is Director of
the Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences. Dr. Garbers is a
member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. Among his honors, David received the Amory Prize in
1992, the Society for the Study of Reproduction Award for 1995, and the
ASPET Goodman and Gilman Award for outstanding research in receptor
pharmacology in 1998.
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The particulate guanylyl cyclase receptors are comprised of ligand binding and guanylyl cyclase catalytic domains within the same protein. These particulate receptors produce the second messenger cyclic GMP in the kidney and other tissues such as the adrenal gland, intestine, and vascular bed. The Garbers laboratory has identified and characterized seven different mammalian somatic cell guanylyl cyclase receptors. Two of these receptor subtypes bind the regulatory hormonal natriuretic peptides (ANP that is released from the heart and plays a role in the regulation of blood pressure at the level of the kidney; and C-type natriuretic peptide that induces relaxation of rat aorta). One subtype binds heat-stable enterotoxin (small peptides from bacteria that cause acute diarrhea) and is also activated by a peptide, guanylin, found in the intestine and other tissues. Thus, characterization of the ANP receptors provided evidence of the true nature of the heart as an endocrine organ. The other guanylyl cyclase receptors in this family are found in retinal and olfactory neuronal tissues.
Using gene knockout technology, the Garbers lab showed that disruption of the gene for the hormone ANP results in a salt-resistant form of hypertensionthe phenotype displayed by 50% of humans with essential hypertension. The ANP receptor cyclase is the exclusive means by which the heart communicates with the kidney when vascular volume is expanded. In addition, mice devoid of the gene for the heat-stable enterotoxin receptor are immune to diarrhea when challenged with pathogenic bacteriathe type accounting for infant mortality in developing countries and travelers diarrhea. Dr. Garbers has also identified the cause of the human genetic disease, Lebers congenital amaurosis, which results in blindness despite the retina being morphologically normal.
In addition to generating a prodigious publication record, David is a dedicated educator, having mentored 58 graduate and postdoctoral trainees. He also co-directs a physiology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. His sense of humor and down-home charm endear David to those who have been privileged to work with and know him. He is selfless in his generosity to family, friends, and colleagues and tireless in his dedication to science.
Dr. Garbers cutting-edge research is focused on the growing family of cell-surface receptors that participate in physiological and pathophysiological pathways for regulation of cell and organ function. This research has the potential for opening new approaches to the treatment of human disease and has profound importance for renal, vascular, and reproductive biology and understanding the mechanisms involved in olfaction and photoreception. The researchspanning physiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, and biological chemistrythat has emanated from the Garbers laboratory over almost 30 yr is befitting of his recognition as this years recipient of the Edwin B. Astwood Award Lecture of The Endocrine Society.
Suzanne Laychock
Citation for the 2001 Monsanto Clinical Investigator Award Lecture of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Zvi Laron
Zvi Laron is best known for his recognition, description, and
elucidation of the pathogenesis of the syndrome of GH insensitivity
(GHIS) that bears his name (i.e. Laron
syndrome). He encountered the first of
these patients (three siblings) in 1958 shortly after returning to
Israel following completion of a residency and fellowship in pediatrics
and pediatric endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and
Pittsburghs Childrens Hospital. Subsequently this cohort has grown
to include 51 patients of Oriental, Jewish, and Arab extraction. In
early studies, Zvi and his co-workers identified the clinical and
physiologic characteristics of isolated GH deficiency in these
patients. With the development of the RIA for GH, it became apparent
that these patients were not GH deficient but had extraordinarily high
serum levels of hGH. In a series of meticulous studies, the Laron group
demonstrated that the circulation GH of these subjects was
immunologically, physico-chemically, and biologically intact.
Nevertheless, these patients were unable to generate somatomedin C
(IGF-I). In 1983, Laron reported that microsomal pellets prepared from
open liver biopsies of two patients with GHIS were unable to bind
131I-hGH, thus confirming earlier suspicions that
the GH receptor (GHR) is the site of this disorder. When the GHR was
cloned, some of these patients were found to have deletions of several
exons encoding the extracellular domain of this 620 amino acid
transmembrane protein.
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Larons work has focused not only on the hormonal, biochemical, and genetic aspects of GHIS but also on the psychosocial consequences of this disorder; he organized and directed teams of psychologists and ancillary personnel to work with the patients and their families, schools, and employers. With the development of biosynthetic IGF-I, Zvis group was the first to treat children with GHIS and improve their growth; they have also demonstrated the positive effects of IGF-I on metabolic parameters in adult patients. Thus, Larons work on the clinical, molecular, genetic, therapeutic, and psychosocial aspects of GHIS provides a classical model for the integration of the clinical and basic sciences that has now been applied to many other disorders. The work elucidated many of the basic biological roles of GH, the GHR, and the IGFs on intrauterine and postnatal growth, sexual maturation, and intellectual development.
In addition to this extraordinary contribution, it is in the care of children with type I insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus that Zvis influence has been particularly felt; there he introduced the concept of the multidisciplinary team approach into the management of these patients. He was one of the founders, and later secretary and president (19931996) of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetology (ISPAD). Zvi has organized the annual Beilinson Symposium on Juvenile Diabetes since 1970 and was a founding member of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and twice its president as well as a founding member of the Growth Hormone Research Society. Dr. Laron has also made significant contributions to our knowledge concerning the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management of children with isosexual precocity. He has published over 1200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and written, edited, and/or co-edited 31 books. He has edited 24 volumes of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology and 4 volumes of Modern Endocrinology and Diabetes. He has served on the editorial boards of 13 scientific journals related to pediatric endocrinology and diabetology. Zvi has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism since 1995 and is a co-founder and Associate Editor of the Journal of Endocrine Genetics.
Dr. Laron established the first pediatric endocrine unit in Israel and is the acknowledged leader of this discipline in his country. He has trained the majority of Israels pediatric endocrinologists. For more than three decades, Zvi was Director of the Institute of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Beilinson Medical Center, and Professor of Pediatrics at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus and Director of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Unit of the Schneider Childrens Medical Center of Israel. Thus, Zvi continues his extraordinarily active and productive career in pediatric endocrinology and his service to children and colleagues.
Zvi has received many honors for his contributions, including the Paul Langerhans Medal from the German Diabetes Association, the Bonn Wird Medal of Bonn University, Germany, honorary doctorates from the Universities of Medicine and Pharmacy"Iulin Hatieganu"and Timisoara (Romania), and the University of Eastern Piedmonte in Novara (Italy), the Natan Neiman Medal from the University of Nancy (France), the Centennial Medal of the Italian Pediatric Society, and, most recently, the Andrea Prader Prize of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology in 2000. Thus, Zvi Laron is an exceedingly worthy recipient of The Endocrine Societys 2001 Clinical Investigator Award Lecture.
Allen W. Root
Citation for the 2001 Gerald D. Aurbach Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Andrew Arnold
Dr. Andrew Arnold has been a pioneer in the study of endocrine tumors. He discovered the cyclin D1 oncogene, illuminated its profound role in human neoplasia, and is a
world leader in the study of parathyroid disease.
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Notwithstanding his impressive pedigree in cancer research, Andy moved to Boston for a clinical fellowship in endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, beginning his long association with the MGH Endocrine Unit and his primary mentor, friend, and collaborator, Henry Kronenberg. Andy rapidly rose through the faculty ranks and became head of a new unit, the MGH Laboratory of Endocrine Oncology. He also served on the Board of Program Directors for the MGH Endocrinology Training Program. In 1997 Andy was recruited to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine as Murray-Heilig Chair in Molecular Medicine, Director of the Center for Molecular Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
From the start, Andy has blazed new trails in merging the seemingly distinct elements of his training, bringing modern molecular approaches to bear upon endocrine tumors. He was the first to establish that parathyroid adenomas were monoclonal neoplasms, using powerful new DNA analytic tools. In so doing he discovered the first clonal chromosome rearrangement in a parathyroid adenoma and subsequently cloned the breakpoint-adjacent DNA, with the crucial insight that it would likely contain a new human parathyroid oncogene. Andy showed that this gene, PRAD1, encoded a novel member of the cyclin family, now called cyclin D1, which has been implicated in 2040% of parathyroid adenomas. Andys discovery of this new endocrine oncogene produced the first direct link between tumorigenesis and the cell cycle engine. This has opened up an entire field that is being intensively pursued in developing new antineoplastic therapies. Nimbly crossing back into the oncology world in an interdisciplinary tour de force, Andy established that cyclin D1 is the long-sought "BCL-1" oncogenethe cause of mantle cell lymphomas and a subset of multiple myelomaand led the way in demonstrating cyclin D1s importance in the pathogenesis of up to 50% of human breast cancers. Recently, Andy used a parathyroid-targeted cyclin D1 transgene to develop the first animal model of chronic primary hyperparathyroidism.
Andy has made seminal contributions in still other areas. He identified the first clonal molecular defect to cause an ectopic hormone syndrome, namely rearrangement of the PTH gene causing ectopic PTH secretion from an ovarian carcinoma. He described the first molecular defect in familial isolated hypoparathyroidism, an abnormal PTH gene that was also the first example in human genetics of a signal peptide mutation. Andys group has uncovered most of the common chromosomal abnormalities known to occur in parathyroid neoplasia, and their locations are providing signposts for efforts to identify new endocrine tumor suppressor genes. Andy has also changed the prevailing concept of pathogenesis for two diseases, the refractory secondary (tertiary) hyperparathyroidism of chronic renal failure and primary (multigland) parathyroid hyperplasia. He has demonstrated, contrary to previous expectations, that patients with these conditions frequently harbor monoclonal parathyroid neoplasms; his findings may explain the functional "autonomy" of PTH secretion observed in these states and carry important potential implications for treatment of hemodialysis patients.
Andy has received many honors, including the Fuller Albright Award of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the Outstanding Investigator Award of the American Federation for Clinical Research. He is widely recognized as an outstanding clinician and teacher and has an exemplary record of service to the academic community, for example as Associate Editor of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Councilor of the ASBMR, and Basic Science Chair of the 2002 annual meeting of The Endocrine Society. It is a great pleasure to present the 2001 Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture to Andy, a "founding father" of modern endocrine oncology.
Lawrence Raisz
Citation for the 2001 Sidney H. Ingber Distinguished Service Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Janet Schlechte
The recipient of the 2001 Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Service
Award is Dr. Janet Schlechte. Janet has
had active and extensive involvement in The Endocrine Society since
1985, when she was first appointed to the Manpower Liaison Committee.
She served as Chair of this committee from 19881989. The Manpower
Liaison Committee was renamed the Clinical Initiatives Committee, and
she served as Chair of this new committee from 19891991. Janet served
as the Clinical Chair for the annual meeting Steering Committee in 1993
and 1994 and has been reappointed to this committee and will again be
the Clinical Chair for the 2002 annual meeting. She has an uncanny
ability to translate scientific advances into clinically relevant
patient care. She also served on the Research Affairs Committee.
She was elected to Council in 1995 and is currently a member of the
Finance Committee. She has served on many of the major committees and
on the governing board of the Society. Her efforts have led to greater
involvement of clinical and practicing endocrinologists in the Society,
a better understanding of the financing and political issues facing
practicing endocrinologists, and a restructuring of the annual meeting
to integrate and include topics relevant to practicing endocrinologists
and clinical investigators. These sessions are now distributed
throughout the entirety of the meeting instead of being presented as a
single clinical day at the end of the meeting. As a member of the
Council, she strongly supported the concept that The Endocrine Society
is a multidimensional organization that must encourage cultural and
scientific heterogeneity and meet the needs of all of its members. She
has also been influential in promoting women in endocrinology.
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Janet was born in Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska for her undergraduate as well as her medical education. She completed 3 yr of residency in Internal Medicine and 3 yr of fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Iowa. She subsequently spent 2 yr in postfellowship training at the National Cancer Institute before returning to a faculty position at the University of Iowa. She is currently a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. She has also held several important positions at the University of Iowa School of Medicine, where she serves as Director of the General Clinical Research Center, Director of the Endocrine Diagnostic Laboratory, and as Program Director of Residency Training in Internal Medicine. She is the recipient of the University of Iowa College of Medicine Faculty Service Award in recognition of her many contributions to the institution. She is active as a general medical attending as well as an endocrine attending physician. She delivers conferences, lectures, and grand rounds on a regular basis and is a popular local, regional, and national educator.
Janet has also been very active in the American College of Physicians, where she is a past Governor of the Iowa Chapter. She has participated actively in educational activities of the American College of Physicians, particularly as they relate to endocrinology, and has served on many important committees within the American College of Physicians. In recognition of her many distinguished contributions to the American College of Physicians and to medical education, she was awarded a Mastership in this organization with a membership in excess of 100,000.
Her research interests include hyperprolactinemia and pituitary tumors, the relationship between hyperprolactinemia and bone disease, and between anorexia and bone disease. She is the author and/or co-author of 43 peer-reviewed publications and 13 book chapters. She has been elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians in recognition of her research contributions.
Dr. Schlechte is a leader in The Endocrine Society and the broad field of endocrinology, where she is an effective and successful spokesperson and educator. She has given freely of her time and energy on our behalf.
Robert Kreisberg
Citation for the 2001 Roy O. Greep Award Lecture of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Carole R. Mendelson
Women in Endocrinology is proud to have nominated Carole R.
Mendelson, Ph.D., for this years Roy O. Greep Award
Lecture. Dr. Mendelson has been an
outstanding role model for all scientists, and especially for young
women starting their careers. She has been an inspiration to colleagues
at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, The Endocrine
Society, The Perinatal Research Society, and throughout the world,
always giving generously of herself, her time, and her expertise.
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Dr. Mendelsons research has focused on identification of molecular mechanisms that mediate expression of specific genes in a precise temporal and spatial manner, and modulate gene expression by hormones and second messengers. Over the past two decades, she and her colleagues have characterized the regulation of two genes of great physiological relevance: 1) the gene encoding the major protein in lung surfactant, surfactant protein-A (SP-A), which serves an important role in host-defense within the lung alveolus; and 2) the gene encoding aromatase, the enzyme that catalyzes conversion of C19-androgens to C18-estrogens.
After isolating and characterizing the SP-A protein and gene, Dr. Mendelson and colleagues demonstrated that SP-A expression is lung specific and developmentally regulated in fetal lung in concert with type II cell differentiation and the temporal induction of surfactant phospholipid synthesis. They further observed that SP-A gene transcription in fetal lung is induced by hormones and factors via cAMP. Through introduction of chimeric gene constructs into cultured type II cells and transgenic mice, Dr. Mendelson has functionally mapped response elements of the SP-A gene that mediate its appropriate type II cell-specific, developmental, and cAMP regulation. Her studies have revealed a novel mechanism for cAMP-induced expression of the SP-A gene and for its transcriptional activation during type II cell differentiation that involve a PKA-induced increase of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) phosphorylation.
In collaborative studies, Dr. Mendelson and her longtime colleague Dr. Evan Simpson purified human aromatase P450 and cloned the human aromatase gene. In human beings, aromatase is selectively expressed in ovarian granulosa and luteal cells, adipose stromal cells, syncytiotrophoblast of the placenta, and discrete regions of the brain. Drs. Mendelson and Simpson made the intriguing observation that aromatase expression in these estrogen-producing cells is regulated by the use of different tissue-specific promoters that are functional either in the ovary, placenta, or adipocytes. These promoters lie upstream of unique first exons encoding 5'-untranslated regions of the aromatase mRNAs. This was one of the first bodies of work demonstrating use of different promoters, and not just different transcription factors, in the tissue-specific regulation of a gene.
During the past few years, Dr. Mendelson has used transgenic mice and transfected estrogen-producing cells to define the genetic elements that mediate the tissue-specific and regulated aromatase expression in both the placenta and in the ovary. She has recently shown that the induction of aromatase expression during differentiation of placental cytotrophoblasts to syncytiotrophoblast is oxygen dependent, and now is defining the transcriptional mechanisms for oxygen regulation of trophoblast differentiation and the associated induction of aromatase expression.
In addition to this outstanding body of research over the past two decades, Dr. Mendelson has been quite active in The Endocrine Society, serving on numerous committees, the editorial board for Molecular Endocrinology, and for other journals. She has been President of the Perinatal Research Society and has served on numerous federal and private scientific review committees. She has been a mentor for numerous postdoctoral fellows and predoctoral students who have gone on to establish their own area of independent research and has been on institutional committees dealing with medical and graduate student training, and with advancing women in science and medicine. She has thus served as an outstanding mentor and role model for women in science at all levels.
Based upon this outstanding record of achievement, Women in Endocrinology was proud to nominate Dr. Carole R. Mendelson for the Roy O. Greep Lecture Award for 2001.
Synthia H. Mellon
Citation for the 2001 Distinguished Educator Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Leonard Wartofsky
The Distinguished Educator Award is presented this year to Dr.
Leonard Wartofsky in recognition of his longstanding and ongoing
efforts on behalf of graduate and continuing medical education to his
trainees and to the medicine and endocrine communities at
large. Dr. Wartofsky is a Professor of
Medicine and Physiology at the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, and also holds teaching
appointments as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of
Maryland, and at Georgetown, Howard, and George Washington University
Schools of Medicine. He is Chairman of the Department of Medicine at
the Washington Hospital Center and was the Program Director of the
Internal Medicine Residency from 19932000. He is a graduate of George
Washington University and did his postgraduate training in internal
medicine at the Barnes Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis and
the Albert Einstein Medical Center in New York and trained in
endocrinology with Dr. Sidney Ingbar on the Harvard University Service,
Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, at Boston City Hospital. Before joining
the Washington Hospital Center, he was on active duty at the Walter
Reed Army Medical Center, where he held the positions of Director of
the Endocrinology Division and the Endocrinology Fellowship Training
Program, and Chief of the Department of Medicine and Program Director
of the Internal Medicine Residency.
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Kenneth D. Burman
Citation for the 2001 Distinguished Physician Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Robert A. Kreisberg
Dr. Robert A. Kreisberg is a highly respected clinical
investigator, a near legendary teacher, a quintessential clinician, and
an enlightened administrator. His main
research interests were in glucose homeostasis, glucose-lactate
interrelationships, and clinical lipid/lipoprotein disorders. His
research in glucose homeostasis and lactate metabolism was supported
for 11 yr by an investigator-initiated NIH Award and for 8 yr by a VA
Merit Review Research Award. His research helped extend understanding
of the dynamics of glucose homeostasis, the alterations in
glucose-lactate interrelationships that occur in obesity and diabetes,
and the effects of alcohol and phenformin on these processes. He was
Director of the Clinical Research Center of the University of Alabama
at Birmingham from 19791983. He is the author and co-author of ninety
original articles, invited reviews, and book chapters and has edited
and written two books on lipids and lipoproteins. His articles have
been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America, the New England
Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Clinical
Investigation, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &
Metabolism, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, and the
Annals of Internal Medicine. He served as President of the
American Federation for Clinical Research in 1974 and was elected to
membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation in
1972.
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He has been heavily involved in the affairs of The Endocrine Society, serving on the Scientific and Educational Programs Committee, the annual meeting Steering Committee, the Professional Affairs Committee, and the Endocrine Self-Assessment Program Committee.
He is now a member of the Council of The Endocrine Society, a past Regent of the American College of Physicians, and a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association. He has been a member of the Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Subspecialty Committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the Endocrinology and Metabolic Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel-II.
He has been a member of the editorial boards of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the American Journal of Medical Sciences, the American Journal of Medicine, and The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. He has served as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Medicine and is currently an Associate Editor for The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. He is an Associate Editor for The Lipoprotein and Atherosclerosis section of The Yearbook of Endocrinology and a contributing editor for Lipids and Metabolism for the Endocrinologist.
He has been actively involved in medical administration, serving as Dean and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of South Alabama, as Vice-Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Chief of Medicine at the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center. He has recently returned to the University of South Alabama, where he is the Dean of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs. His administrative style is characterized by insightful concepts of organization, thoroughness, hard work, and loyalty with success as the universal result.
Dr. Kreisberg received his M.D. degree and his residency training in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University Medical School. He had fellowships in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Northwestern and at Harvard Medical School, the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and the Joslin Research Laboratory.
Alan M. Siegal
Citation for the 2001 Richard E. Weitzman Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. Jiemin Wong
Dr. Jiemin Wong was born in Fu Jian, Peoples Republic of
China. He graduated from Wuhan
University with a degree in biology and entered the Institute of Cell
Biology in Shanghai, where he received an M.S. degree. After a brief
period of employment in the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the
Chinese Academy of Science, he moved to the United States, where he
remains now as a permanent resident. In the U.S., he entered the
University of Vermont, where he obtained a Ph.D. in microbiology and
molecular genetics for work on general transcription factor
interactions with DNA. After obtaining his degree, his career underwent
an explosive acceleration when he entered the NIH (NICHD) as a
postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Alan Wolfe. There he mastered the
intricacies of chromatin biology.
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During the transcriptional activation process, liganded TR/RXR also induces a targeted chromatin disruption, which may be important to potentiate the T3-dependent transcriptional activation. Jiemin went on to show that a histone deacetylase-specific inhibitor, TSA, not only blocks the repression by unliganded TR/RXR but also induces transcriptional activation from the repressive chromatin as effectively as the liganded TR/RXR. These observations indicate that dynamic modification of chromatin plays a central role in transcriptional regulation by TR/RXR. Together with the findings from many laboratories that transcriptional coactivators often possess intrinsic histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activities and transcriptional corepressors are associated with histone deacetylases, Dr. Wongs studies in Xenopus oocytes provide compelling evidence that nuclear hormone receptors are adapted to function in a chromatin environment and regulate gene expression by inducing dynamic modifications of chromatin structure. This was a truly high impact series of experiments.
He next relocated to the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he initiated an independent career. He quickly obtained four new grants (two from NIH) and further extended his study on transcriptional regulation by TR/RXR. Work from his lab demonstrates that the coactivator p300 requires its HAT enzyme activity and must interact also with SRC-1 family coactivators to facilitate activation by liganded TR/RXR. Importantly, his recent work has involved biochemical purification of SMRT and N-CoR complexes, indicating that both SMRT and N-CoR are associated with HDAC3 and TBL1 in large protein complexes. These experiments provide new mechanistic insights on the molecular pathways leading to the repression exerted by unliganded nuclear receptors.
In the past 20 yr of the field of Hormone Action, there are only a few young endocrinologists who have had such an impact on a very competitive field through a brilliant and focused body of original work. Jiemins work has been published in the very top journals such as Cell, Molecular Cell, Genes and Development, EMBO Journal, and Molecular Endocrinology. There is little doubt that Jiemin Wong will continue as one of the future stars of molecular endocrinology and is most deserving of The Endocrine Societys Weitzman Award for 2001.
Anthony R. Means
Citation for The Endocrine Society and Pharmacia Corporation International Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2000
First Prize
"Direct Measurement of Pulsatile Insulin Secretion from the Portal Vein in Human Subjects." Vol. 85, No. 12, 2000, pp. 44914499. Authors: Soon H. Song, Susan S. McIntyre, Hasnain Shah, Johannes D. Veldhuis, Peter C. Hayes, and Peter C. Butler. Liver Research Unit, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh (S.H.S., S.S.M., H.S., P.C.H.), EH3 9YW Edinburgh, Scotland; Department of Medicine, General Clinical Research Center, and National Science Foundation Center for Biological Timing, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center (J.D.V.), Charlottesville, Virginia 22908; and Division of Endocrinology, Keck School of Medicine (S.H.S., P.C.B.), Los Angeles, California 90033.
Finalist
"PCOS: Evidence that Flutamide Restores Sensitivity of the Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Pulse Generator to Inhibition by Estradiol and Progesterone." Vol. 85, No.11, 2000, pp. 40474052. Authors: Christine A. Eagleson, Melissa B. Gingrich, Carmen L. Pastor, Tania K. Arora, Christine M. Burt, William S. Evans, and John C. Marshall. Division of Endocrinology and the Center for Research in Reproduction, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908.
Finalist
"Sex-Determining Gene(s) on Distal 9p: Clinical and Molecular Studies in Six Cases." Vol. 85, No. 9, 2000, pp. 30943100. Authors: Koji Muroya, Torayuki Okuyama, Keiji Goishi, Yoshifumi Ogiso, Shin Fukuda, Junji Kameyama, Hirokazu Sato, Yoshimi Suzuki, Hiroshi Terasaki, Hiroki Gomyo, Keiko Wakui, Yoshimitsu Fukushima, and Tsutomu Ogata. Department of Pediatrics, Keio University School of Medicine (K.M., T.Ok., T.Og.), Tokyo 160-8582; Department of Genetics, National Childrens Medical Research Center (T.Ok.), Tokyo 154-8509; Divisions of Neonatology (K.G.) and Clinical Pathology (Y.O.), Nagano Childrens Hospital, Toyoshina 399-8288; Department of Pediatrics, Kurashiki Central Hospital (S.F., J.K.), Kurashiki 710-8602; Division of Endocrinology, Chiba Childrens Hospital (K.S.), Chiba 266-0007; Department of Pediatrics, Toyohashi Municipal Hospital (Y.S.), Toyohashi 441-8570; Mitsubishi Kagaku Bioclinical Laboratories, Inc. (H.T.), Tokyo 174-8555; and Departments of Orthopedics (H.G.) and Hygiene and Medical Genetics (K.W., Y.F.), Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
Finalist
"Fasting Insulin Levels Influence Plasma Leptin Levels Independently from the Contribution of Adiposity: Evidencefrom Both a Cross-Sectional and an Intervention Study." Vol. 85, No. 11, 2000, pp. 42314237. Authors: Eric Doucet, Sylvie St. Pierre, Natalie Alméras, Pascale Mauriège, Jean-Pierre Després, Denis Richard, Claude Bouchard, and Angelo Tremblay. Division of Kinesiology (E.D., S.S.-P., P.M., A.T.) and Departments of Food Science and Nutrition (N.A., J.-P.D., A.T.) and Physiology and Anatomy (D.R.), Laval University, Ste-Foy, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4; and Pennington Biomedical Research Center (C.B.), Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808-4124.
Photos of the winners will be available after the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society and will be published in a future issue.
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