Endocrine Society Announces 2009 Laureate Winners

The Endocrine Society announced its 2009 Laureate Awards. The awards, established in 1944 to recognize the highest achievements in endocrinology, include science, leadership, teaching, and service. This year's Laureate Awards were presented at ENDO 09, the 91st Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society, held June 10 to 13, in Washington, DC.

The Endocrine Society's 2009 Laureate Award winners are:

Daniel Drucker, MD - Clinical Investigator Award Lecture
This annual award honors an internationally recognized clinical investigator who has contributed significantly to the pathogenesis, pathophysiology and therapy of endocrine diseases. Dr. Drucker is recognized for pioneering molecular, genetic, and physiological studies of glucagon-like peptides, their receptors, and dipeptidyl peptidase 4. This work has led to mechanisms of action and critical roles in glucose homeostasis, and provided scientific basis for novel and effective therapies for diabetes, obesity and gastrointestinal disorders. Dr. Drucker resides in Toronto, Canada.

David Goltzman, MD - Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture
This annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in endocrinology. Dr. Goltzman, over his 30-year career, has utilized a wide range of in vitro and in vivo techniques to make outstanding contributions to our understanding of the biology of parathyroid hormone, parathyroid hormone-related protein, and vitamin D. Dr. Goltzman resides in Westmount, Canada.

Arthur Gutierrez-Hartmann, MD - Distinguished Educator Award
This annual award recognizes exceptional achievement as an educator in the discipline of endocrinology and metabolism. Dr. Gutierrez-Hartmann is a founding member of the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Molecular Biology and the Medical Scientist Training Program. In the past 20 years he has supervised five junior faculty, 18 postdoctoral research fellows and graduate students, and 68 high school, undergraduate and medical students in his laboratory. Dr. Gutierrez-Hartman resides in Aurora, Colo.

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD - Fred Conrad Koch Award
This annual award recognizes exceptional contributions to endocrinology and includes a $25,000 honorarium. Dr. Jameson described the first mutations in several key regulators of reproduction, including leutinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and steroidogenic factor-1. He established the role of DAX1 in sex determination and helped unravel how mutant thyroid hormone receptors cause thyroid hormone resistance. Dr. Jameson resides in Winnetka, Ill.

Fred Karsch, PhD - Roy O. Greep Award Lecture
This annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in endocrinology. Dr. Karsch's body of work on the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis is critical to the understanding of steroid feedback, documented by 35 years of continuous National Institute's of Health funding and over 170 publications. Dr. Karsch resides in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Karen Knudsen, PhD - Richard E. Weitzman Memorial Award
This annual award recognizes an exceptionally promising young clinical or basic investigator. Dr. Knudsen is recognized for scientific achievements in the study of androgen action in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer, mentoring of students and fellows, and for her tremendous service to the scientific community. Dr. Knudsen resides in Wynnewood, Pa.

Other award winners are: Lynnette Nieman, MD, Distinguished Physician Award; E. Chester Ridgway, MD, Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award; Constantine Stratakis, MD, Ernst Oppenheimer Award; Theo Visser, PhD, Edwin B. Astwood Award Lecture; and Margaret Wierman, MD, Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Service Award.