Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award
Rebecca S. Bahn, MD, FRCPI
Rebecca S. Bahn, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine is the winner of the Endocrine Society’s Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award for 2017. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the practice of clinical endocrinology in an academic setting. Dr. Bahn is internationally known in the thyroid and endocrine communities for her work on thyroid-related eye disease, which has spanned more than 30 years. Her research has elucidated important aspects of the pathogenesis of this disorder, and she has also been at the forefront in designing novel therapies for patients afflicted with this condition. She was one of the first investigators to establish an orbital fibroblast model system, and she and her group led the way in documenting TSH receptor expression on these target cells. She also described the critical pathogenic role of orbital cytokines and other factors in promoting adipocyte and fibroblast differentiation. These studies led to clinical trials of octreotide and more recently rituximab for the treatment of thyroid eye disease. She is the author of many highly cited review articles on thyroid eye disease, and she is a highly sought after national and international speaker.
In addition to her work on thyroid eye disease, Dr. Bahn has served as president of the American Thyroid Association and as chair of the ATA guidelines task force on the management of hyperthyroidism. She has been a mentor to more than 20 clinical and research fellows, and has been an ardent advocate for women in science. She is the recipient of the 2014 “woman of the year” award from the American Thyroid Association’s Women in Thyroidology group. She has been the associate dean for Research Career Development at the Mayo Clinic, and has also been the principle investigator of an NIH Grant designed to promote research in women’s health. Dr. Bahn epitomizes the concept of a clinician scholar, and is certainly a most deserving recipient of our Society’s 2017 outstanding Scholarly Physician Award.
David S. Cooper, MD
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