Laureates

2023 Laureate

Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, M.D., FRS, FMedSci.

Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, M.D., FRS, FMedSci, is a Professor and Head of the Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine department at the University of Cambridge. O’Rahilly also co-directs the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS), one of the world’s largest institutes for metabolic research at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. O’Rahilly is a graduate of the University College of Dublin and the National University of Ireland. Before his appointment to the University of Cambridge, O’Rahilly held clinical and research fellow positions at the University of Oxford and Harvard University.

O’Rahilly was selected as the 2023 Hamm Prize laureate for his research that linked a specific mechanism to the development of obesity. Obesity is considered the biggest risk factor for Type 2 diabetes and O’Rahilly’s rigorous clinical research defined very specific molecular mechanisms and genes that are responsible for the condition of obesity.

In addition to the Hamm Prize, his findings have been recognized internationally with many awards and prizes. In 2013 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for services to medical research, specifically, his work in diabetes research.

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2021 Laureate

Andrew T. Hattersley, CBE, FMedSci, FRS

Andrew T. Hattersley, CBE, FMedSci, FRS, is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Exeter Medical School, U.K. Hattersley’s career began as a research student working at Oxford. His early work at Exeter included establishing a lab that now leads the world in the study of MODY and neonatal diabetes research and diagnosis. Here, a major breakthrough occurred with genome-wide analysis; the collaborative approach paved the way to the discovery of new susceptibility polymorphism, a predisposition for Type 2 diabetes.

For nearly three decades, Hattersley has continued to make fundamental discoveries in diabetes research in both basic and clinical sciences, and his prolific work includes more than 600 peer-reviewed publications. Directing his research into the area of monogenic beta-cell diabetes, Hattersley has pushed beyond gene discovery to explore development and function of the human beta-cell, providing the clinical research that has become the basis of clinical care worldwide. One major advance has been the incorporation of beta-cell science into patient treatment. Recent work has revealed new insights into the beta-cell potassium channel.

Hattersley said the work of his research team in rare patients with genetic diabetes has shown that defining the cause of a person's diabetes can lead to dramatic improvements in treatment, including thousands of patients coming off insulin therapy.

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2019 Laureate

Daniel J. Drucker, M.D.

Daniel J. Drucker, M.D., received his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1980, and is currently Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He holds a Banting and Best Diabetes Centre-Novo Nordisk Chair in Incretin Biology. His laboratory is based in the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mt. Sinai Hospital and studies the molecular biology and physiology of the glucagon-like peptides. Dr. Drucker's scientific studies identified multiple novel mechanisms of gut hormone action, resulting in 33 issued US patents, and enabling development of new drug classes for diabetes, obesity and intestinal failure. His discoveries have been recognized by numerous learned societies including the Banting Award from the ADA, the Claude Bernard Award from the EASD, the Manpei Suzuki International Prize for Diabetes Research, the Rolf Luft Award from the Karolinska Institute, the Harrington-ASCI Prize for Innovation in Medicine, and election to Fellowship, the Royal Society, London.

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2017 Laureate

Ralph A. DeFronzo, M.D.

Ralph A. DeFronzo, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Diabetes Division at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Deputy Director of the Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, Texas. Dr. DeFronzo is a graduate of Yale University (BS) and Harvard Medical School (MD) and did his training in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He completed fellowships in Endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health and Baltimore City Hospitals and in Nephrology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he joined the faculty at the Yale University School of Medicine (1975-88) as an Assistant/Associate Professor. From 1988 to present Dr. DeFronzo has been Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Diabetes Division at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the Texas Diabetes Institute.

His major interests focus on the pathogenesis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the central role of insulin resistance in the metabolic-cardiovascular cluster of disorders known collectively as the Insulin Resistance Syndrome. Using the euglycemic insulin clamp technique in combination with radioisotope turnover methodology, limb catheterization, indirect calorimetry, and muscle biopsy, he has helped to define the biochemical and molecular disturbances responsible for insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

For his work in this area, Dr. DeFronzo received the prestigious Lilly Award by the American Diabetes Association, the Banting Lectureship by the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Novartis Award for outstanding clinical investigation world wide, the Albert Renold Award, the Banting Award, and the Claude Bernard Award from the EASD. These represent the highest scientific achievement awards given by the American and European Diabetes Associations, respectively.

While in Oklahoma City to receive the Hamm Prize, Dr. DeFronzo delivered the Hamm Prize Lecture in Diabetes Research. Watch the lecture in its entirety.

Watch the 2017 Hamm Prize Laureate Video.

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2015 Laureate

C. Ronald Kahn, M.D.

C. Ronald Kahn is a world recognized expert in diabetes and obesity research, as well as a preeminent investigator in the area of insulin signal transduction and mechanisms of altered signaling in diabetes and metabolic disease. Dr. Kahn is Senior Investigator, Head of the Section on Integrative Physiology and Metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center and the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kahn served as Research Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center from 1981 to 2000, and served as President of Joslin from 2001 to 2007. He is currently the Center’s Chief Academic Officer.

Dr. Kahn has received more than 70 awards and honors, including the highest honors of the American Diabetes Association, U.S. and British Endocrine Societies, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and election to the National Academy of Science and Institute of Medicine. He has authored more than 600 original publications and 200 reviews and chapters.

Dr. Kahn holds undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Louisville. He also holds an honorary Master of Science from Harvard University, honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Paris, University of Louisville, University of Geneva and Washington University in St. Louis, an honorary Doctor of Medicine from the University of Copenhagen and is an honorary Professor and Director of the Diabetes Center at Peking University School of Medicine.

Watch the 2015 Hamm Prize Laureate Video.

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2013 Laureate

Peter H. Bennett, MB, ChB, FRCP, FFPH

Dr. Peter H. Bennett is widely-regarded as an international leader in diabetes research. He was the first to initiate a major longitudinal study of type 2 diabetes and its complications which led to the international standardization of diagnostic criteria by the World Health Organization. His Pima Study, Da Qing study, and Finnish study serve as the foundation for diabetes prevention programs around the world including the Centers for Disease Control Diabetes Prevention Program. Dr. Bennett remains a mentor to thousands of young diabetes researchers trained by his international epidemiology seminars.

Dr. Bennett's unparalleled achievements in the field of diabetes research is the genesis for much of what we know about diabetes, its mechanisms, its complications, and its eventual cure.

Read Dr. Bennett's full biography. Or watch the 2013 Hamm Prize Laureate Video.

See the media briefing announcing Dr. Bennett as the 2013 Hamm Prize Laureate.