Zvi Laron, MD, PhD, was honored by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in April with the title of Honoris Causa Professor for his outstanding contribution to medical science as well as his remarkable academic achievements.
Laron received the 2001 Laureate Award for Outstanding Clinical Research Investigator. Head of the Endocrinology & Diabetes Research Unit, Schneider Children’s Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel and editor-in-chief of Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews, Laron’s current research focuses on preventing type 1 diabetes and the GH/IGF-I actions on the brain.
After his postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital he founded the first Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic in Israel. He started the first the Multidisciplinary Team approach in the treatment of children with diabetes and discovered Laron syndrome and its etiology due to defects in the growth hormone receptor. Another important finding was that patients with congenital IGF-I deficiency are protected lifelong from developing cancer even if treated.
Laron is a Member of the German Academy of Sciences, Founding Member of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology, International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, and the Growth Hormone Research Society.