The Endocrine Society 2015 Laureate Award Winners

For more than 70 years, the Endocrine Society has recognized the achievements of endocrinologists worldwide. Valued at more than $66,000, the Laureate Awards recognize endocrinologists for seminal research, meritorious service, leadership and mentorship, innovation, international contributions, education, translation of science to practice, and lifetime achievement.

The distinguished recipients on the following pages join a prestigious list of past award recipients, all of whom have advanced scientific breakthroughs, medical practice, and human health around the world. Award categories honor the achievements of endocrinologists at all stages of their careers, recognizing those at the pinnacle of the field as well as young endocrinologists who are making a mark.

The dedication, commitment, and achievements of current and past award recipients have earned each a place in endocrine history.

ANDRZEJ BARTKE, PHD
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

Andrzej Bartke is a highly respected endocrinologist of international prominence who has been contributing to the field of endocrinology for over five decades. He currently is professor emeritus and director of Geriatric Medicine in the departments of Internal Medicine and Physiology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill. His early career was devoted to the reproductive role of growth hormone (GH) and prolactin on testicular physiology. During this time he became the founding editor of the Journal of Andrology and the president of the American Society of Andrology. He also served as both the director and president of the Society for the Study of Reproduction. His studies were key in elucidating prolactin’s role as a major component of the multi-hormone complex that controls testicular steroidogenesis. He pioneered the use of prolactin-defective mutants and showed how chronic elevation of prolactin affected pituitary and testicular function. He also made important contributions in elucidating the role of prolactin in female reproduction and the effects of cannabinoids, alcohol, testosterone, and photoperiod on reproductive systems.

The role of GH deficiency and GH overexpression has been a running theme in Dr. Bartke’s work since 1964. Dwarf mice, particularly the Ames dwarf, have served a major role in the underlying discoveries of the somatotropic and lactotropic regulation of reproduction. His discovery that these mice were long-lived initiated an in-depth study of the hormonal control of aging.

In recent years, Dr. Bartke has become a leader in the field of mammalian aging. His laboratory was the first to show that GH and IGF1 are major players in the regulation of lifespan in the mammal. He showed that GH deficiency delays aging, increases lifetime insulin sensitivity, significantly reduces cancer incidence, extends cognitive acuity, and increases overall health span. These and other discoveries clearly demonstrate that the GH/IGF1/insulin pathways are primary regulators of aging in rodents. Together, these breakthroughs are firmly supported in other species, indicative of the evolutionary importance of this endocrine mechanism. Importantly, his studies suggest that pathways regulated by GH play an important role by which dietary restriction extends lifespan. Some of his long-living mutant mice earned him the famous ‘Methuselah Prize’ for the current world record for mammalian life extension.

Dr. Bartke’s extraordinary scientific accomplishments have also brought him much deserved recognition. Recognition in the aging field is exemplified by his presidency in the American Aging Association and editorships and editorial board membership for multiple endocrine journals. In 2013, he received the Robert W. Kleemeier Award for Outstanding Research in the field of gerontology. He has more than 700 publications and has had continuous NIH funding since 1972 for his research in endocrinology. He has trained numerous students and postdoctoral researchers in addition to many visiting scientists openly sharing his depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for endocrinology. He has a true international presence.

His contributions to the field of endocrinology are exceptional in depth, impact, and diversity, making him a highly deserving recipient of the Fred Conrad Koch Award of the Endocrine Society.

— Holly Brown-Borg

SHALENDER BHASIN, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Shalender Bhasin is a gifted translational investigator whose pioneering investigations have been notable for their bold study design, innovation, and their impact in bringing resolution to some of the most controversial issues in reproductive endocrinology. He has guided drug discovery efforts on androgens and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) as function-promoting anabolic therapies. Dr. Bhasin’s research provided the first evidence of the anabolic effects of androgens in humans, established testosterone’s dose-response relationships, elucidated the mechanisms by which androgens increase skeletal muscle mass and strength, and uncovered novel signaling pathways that mediate the regulation of mesenchymal multi-potent progenitor cell differentiation by testosterone.

Elucidation of the mechanistic pathways has provided important leads to the development of approaches to achieve selectivity of testosterone action on muscle while sparing the prostate. His research has clarified the role of steroid 5-alpha reductase type 2 in mediating the effects of testosterone in adult men and revealed that local amplification achieved by conversion of testosterone to DHT is important during sexual differentiation, but not in adult men. He elucidated the mechanisms by which testosterone stimulates erythropoiesis and demonstrated its role in regulating iron availability through hepcidin transcription.

Dr. Bhasin has led the efforts to rigorously define the androgen deficiency syndrome in men and to generate population-based reference ranges for testosterone. He has characterized testosterone’s binding to SHBG and described a new multi-step allosteric model for estimation of free testosterone.

He has won numerous awards for excellence in teaching and patient-oriented research. He has served as: associate editor of JCEM, chair of the Clinical Guidelines Committee, chair of the Clinical Guidelines Panel that developed guidelines for testosterone therapy, and chair of the ABIM Endocrinology and Metabolism Board. Dr. Bhasin’s numerous clinically relevant discoveries published in top-tier journals have spawned new biotechnology ventures that promise to shape the future practice of reproductive endocrinology.

— Ronald Swerdloff

ROBERT M. CAREY, MD
University of Virginia Health System

Robert M. Carey has had a long and remarkably distinguished medical career since graduating from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1965. Dr. Carey completed medical residency at New York Hospital/Cornell and returned to Vanderbilt for an endocrinology fellowship under the pioneering investigator Grant W. Liddle.After a research fellowship in hypertension at Imperial College London, Dr. Carey joined the faculty at Virginia in 1973, where he quickly rose through the ranks, serving as associate director of the NIH-GCRC, division head of Endocrinology, professor of medicine, dean of the School of Medicine and James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science at the University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville (1986-2002), and since 2003, the David A. Harrison III Distinguished Professor of Medicine and University Professor.

Dr. Carey received numerous honors including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, and Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been honored with many invited lectureships across the world as well as the PageBradley Lifetime Achievement Award and the Excellence Award for Hypertension Research (Novartis Award) of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association. Dr. Carey’s research on the renin-angiotensin system, hypertension, and cardiovascular endocrinology using cell and animal models and humans is reflected in more than 400 scientific publications and three books. Dr. Carey brought to his service for the Endocrine Society prodigious energy and dedication on committees (Finance, Development, Research Advisory, Nominating, the Hormone Foundation), but most importantly, brought visionary and dynamic leadership to Council, as chair of Development and of Advocacy and Public Relations, and finally as the Society’s President (2008-2009). He transformed the Annual Meeting, founded our Scientific Statements program (emphasizing our strengths in endocrine-disrupting chemicals, anabolic steroids, estrogen therapy, and vitamin D to name a few), revamped our advocacy efforts in Congress, and brought the public policy relevancy of endocrine research into the daily activities of our Society.

His transformative leadership of our Society and the field more than merit the honor of this Outstanding Leadership in Endocrinology Award to Dr. Carey.

— Dolores Shoback, MD

AJAY CHAWLA, MD, PHD
University of California, San Francisco

Ajay Chawla’s work has established general principles by which innate immunity extends the homeostatic capacity of tissues, which has deepened our understanding of metabolic diseases.

Dr. Chawla received his BSc from Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering, and his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his graduate work in my laboratory at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied the functions of nuclear receptors in adipogenesis. After completing his clinical training in internal medicine and endocrinology, he joined the laboratory of Ron Evans, MD, at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. His postdoctoral work focused on the functions of PPARs in macrophage cholesterol and lipid homeostasis. Dr. Chawla joined the Department of Medicine of Stanford University in 2002, and subsequently moved to the Cardiovascular Research Institute of the University of California-San Francisco in 2010, where he is an Associate Professor of Physiology and Medicine.

Over the past decade, Dr. Chawla’s contributions have spanned the areas of physiological, regenerative, and circadian homeostasis. His work has uncovered new functions of type 2 innate immunity, which includes interleukin-4 and -13, eosinophils, and alternatively activated macrophages, in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis. Major findings include an ameliorative role for alternatively activated macrophages and eosinophils in diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance, as well as a novel role for type 2 immunity in adaptive thermogenesis. To this end, Dr. Chawla was first to demonstrate that catecholamine production by alternatively activated macrophages stimulates the browning of white adipose tissues in the response to cold temperature.

In the area of regenerative homeostasis, Dr. Chawla’s laboratory has elucidated mechanisms by which type 2 innate immunity regulates stromal cell functionality to support muscle regeneration, providing a new paradigm to study how communication among immune, stromal, and stem cells instructs programs of tissue regeneration. His laboratory also discovered that the monocyte peripheral clock functions to limit host inflammatory responses and enhance organismal fitness, an important example of how physiologic outputs of peripheral clocks enhance organismal fitness.

The pioneering spirit of Dr. Chawla’s work has been recognized by a number of awards, including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and awards from the Rita Allen Foundation, Culpepper Medical Sciences, NIH Director’s Pioneer Award program, and AHA Western States Affiliate Innovative Science Award. He is a most worthy recipient of the Richard E. Weitzman Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award.

— Mitch Lazar

SUSAN DAVIS, MBBS, FRACP, PHD
The School of Public Health and Preventative
Medicine, Monash University

Susan Davis is recognized for her seminal contributions as a researcher, clinician, and educator to the understanding of androgen and estrogen action, deficiency, and replacement in women. She is internationally known for advancing the understanding of the role of androgens and estrogens in women, with research encompassing numerous aspects of women’s health including breast cancer, cardiovascular function, obesity, cognitive function, mood, sexual function, and musculoskeletal health. Her groundbreaking research has had a significant impact globally on women’s health.

In addition, Dr. Davis has played a leading role in education and made important contributions in service to the community. She co-established the Jean Hailes Foundation, Australia’s leading women’s health educational organization, and has written books and produced educational DVDs for the community. Furthermore, her work with the Australian Aboriginal community is notable and has garnered her awards, including the Glaxo Wellcome International Diabetes Education Award.

Dr. Davis is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Principal Research Fellow, chair of Women’s Health, and director of the Women’s Health Research Program, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Australia, and head of the Women’s Specialist Health Clinic at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. She has been a member of multiple national and international practice guideline committees, is past president of the Australasian Menopause Society, has served on the Monash University Council and Council Executive, a range of National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia committees, and the Annual Meeting Steering Committee of the Endocrine Society, and is currently a board member of the International Menopause Society.

It is for her impressive impact on women’s health, both in her native Australia and internationally, with her research, clinical care, educational leadership, and community service that Dr. Davis is recognized with the International Excellence in Endocrinology Award.

— Karen Klahr Miller

ANNE ETGEN, PHD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Anne Etgen has spent more than 30 impactful years as a dedicated educator, researcher, and mentor. Without pause she has generously used her intellectual capital to buttress the academic and professional success of a number of Endocrine Society members. Dr. Etgen’s exceptional commitment to education and research make her the ideal recipient of the Endocrine Society 2015 Distinguished Educator Award.

Anyone who has had the good fortune to work with Dr. Etgen would agree that she is a passionate educator with palpable energy. She is an exemplary mentor and a staunch advocate for the recruitment, retention, education, and advancement of women and underrepresented groups in the field of neuroendocrinology. Her infectious enthusiasm for neuroendocrinology has enticed a generation of high school through postdoctoral trainees into the field of steroid receptor biology and reproductive endocrinology. Her commitment to education and research is truly unparalleled.

She has had more than 30 years of NIH funding, including two NIH MERIT awards, published more than 150 original manuscripts, and has trained several dozen MDs, PhDs, and MD/PhDs. She was director of Graduate Studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and she helped lead a highly successful, NIH-funded, diversity mentoring program for the Society for Neuroscience. Even in retirement her efforts continue to reverberate; she worked with colleagues to establish the American Psychological Foundation Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Neuroscience and Psychology Fund.

Dr. Etgen embodies all of the attributes that define the Endocrine Society Outstanding Educator Award. She is the consummate example of what it means to be a thought leader in education and mentoring. She is an outstanding role model. We should all strive to follow her lead. After considering her truly impressive achievements as an educator, mentor and researcher, it is difficult to imagine anyone more deserving of this distinguished award.

— Genevieve Neal-Perry

VALERIA GUIMARÃES, MD, PHD, FACE
ENNE

It is an honor to introduce you the 2015 Outstanding Public
Service Award Laureate, Valeria Guimarães.

Throughout the past 15 years, we have closely witnessed the beauty, ethics, and passion that she has stamped her personal and professional life with.

She has idealized, developed, led, and worked on outstanding local and national public awareness campaigns and services in support of endocrinology and patients in Brazil. Among many, we proudly cite:

• Implementation of public campaigns for patient
education on thyroid diseases and early detection of
thyroid cancer;
• Leadership in the fight against the worrying figures of
childhood obesity, joining the efforts of The Endocrine
and The Pediatric Brazilian Societies, the Brazilian
National Congress and elementary and secondary
schools for more efficient results;
• The mobilization of population, media, and Brazilian
Medical Societies to push the Brazilian Government
toward the assignment of the World Health Organization
Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity, and
Health; and
• Her unwearied work on one of the most important
amendments to the Brazilian Constitution: the
exclusion of the union monopoly for the production,
commercialization, and utilization of short half-life
isotopes for medical needs, which made possible
the use of PET scan as a diagnostic tool in the whole
country, making easier the lives of thousands of
patients with cancer

Undoubtedly, she is a singular person, but most of all she is plural: She uses WE instead of I.

It was with great joy that we, Brazilian endocrinologists and citizens, and certainly those from other countries as well, were informed that the Endocrine Society Awards Committee acknowledged Valeria Guimarães’ work and selected her as the recipient of the 2015 Outstanding Public Service Award. She truly embodies the levels of accomplishment this Award stands for.

— Luiz Claudio Castro

GÖKHAN S. HOTAMISLIGIL MD, PHD
Harvard School of Public Health

Gökhan Hotamisligil received his MD from Ankara University and his PhD from Harvard University. He is currently the JS Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism and chair of the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, at the Sabri Ülker Center at Harvard University, School of Public Health.

Dr. Hotamisligil has been a pioneer in research efforts to elucidate the mechanistic basis of common chronic metabolic diseases, particularly obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. His work has led to the emergence of novel concepts that have altered our understanding of disease pathogenesis. Foremost among these is the recognition that metabolism and immune responses are linked and that chronic metabolic inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity and related metabolic diseases. He has also discovered the role of lipid chaperones and lipokines that regulate lipid and glucose metabolism. He identified the endoplasmic reticulum as a key organelle regulating whole-body metabolic homeostasis and described the molecular mechanisms underlying this unique function. A key distinguishing feature of Dr. Hotamisligil’s work is the attention devoted to human endocrine disease relevance and the development of therapeutic and preventive strategies.

Dr. Hotamisligil’s work has been instrumental in opening a new field of study known as “immunometabolism” and has attracted many investigators from diverse fields to this new area. His discoveries are widely pursued in drug development programs. He has been recognized with many fellowships and awards, including Markey and Pew Fellowships, the Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment Award of American Diabetes Association, the Wertheimer Award, the Naomi Berrie Award from Columbia University, the Danone International Nutrition Prize, and the Science awards of TUBITAK and Vehbi Koç Foundation. Dr. Hotamisligil is an inspiring colleague and mentor and has trained many successful scientists who have now developed their own independent programs around the world.

— Peter Tontonoz

ANNE KLIBANSKI, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital

A graduate of Barnard College, Anne Klibanski attended New York University School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in internal medicine. She then did an endocrine fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) focusing on neuroendocrinology under the mentorship of Chip Ridgway. She was instrumental in establishing the Massachusetts General Hospital Neuroendocrine Unit, a prototype of a multi-disciplinary clinical and research unit dedicated to pituitary disorders. Dr. Klibanski is currently the Chief of the Neuroendocrine Unit at MGH and the Chief Academic Officer at Partners Healthcare. She is the Laurie Carrol Guthart Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Klibanski embodies the elements of the perfect mentor. She has mentored more than 50 trainees, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles at Harvard and other top institutions. As the first woman promoted to full Professor of Medicine at Harvard from Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Klibanski recognized the barriers women face for career advancement. She established and now oversees institutional offices for career development and mentoring for women faculty, researchers, and clinicians as the director of the Center for Faculty Development at MGH. She was instrumental in establishing the MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards to support junior faculty trying to balance an academic career with family responsibilities. In honor of her abilities as a mentor, she received the Harvard Medical School William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award in 2010.

Even though I left Massachusetts General Hospital 10 years ago, she remains my mentor, and I rarely make a decision without thinking ‘what would Anne say?’ The fact that her trainees remain staunchly loyal to Klibanski reflects her dedication to their careers and the sage advice and support she has given to so many.

— Laurence Katznelson

ROBERT NEER, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital

Among Bob Neer’s many achievements is his critical role in the work that led to the successful introduction of parathyroid hormone therapy for osteoporosis. With his colleagues, he was the first to test synthetic PTH 1-34 in clinical medicine. A special focus was on patients with osteoporosis. FDA requirements then were for metabolic balance studies (calcium balance) and bone biopsies. Despite these challenging requirements, considerable scientific skepticism, and lack of NIH support, Bob persisted in his studies realizing their importance. He was able to stitch together sufficient funding to permit his studies through the 1970s. They were a core component of the 1980 report in the British Medical Journal indicating the potential benefit of PTH 1-34 in osteoporosis.

Bob was a pioneer in another area critical for his field, namely standardization and precision criteria for quantitative computed tomography and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Critical papers from Dr. Neer and his colleagues on the use of PTH in osteoporosis in the late 1980s using these newly developed quantitative techniques showed impressive gains in bone mineral density. This work led the way for broader interest finally in the anabolic properties of PTH. Bob then was the lead investigator in the definitive international placebo-controlled double-blind fracture prevention trial reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2001, which demonstrated the remarkable efficacy of PTH. The rest is history. PTH was approved by the FDA in 2002 as the first and still only anabolic bone therapy. Bob’s role was critical to this success.

— John Potts

BERT W. O’MALLEY, MD
Baylor College of Medicine

Bert O’Malley is an ideal first recipient of the Endocrine Society’s inaugural Outstanding Innovation Award.

Dr. O’Malley’s innovative discoveries of the molecular pathways underlying steroid hormone action have had an extraordinary impact on the field of endocrinology. His early pioneering discovery that the action of steroid hormones in endocrine tissues is a consequence of their ability to regulate gene selective transcriptional responses within the nucleus changed the field of steroid hormone action leading endocrine investigators toward hormonal control of gene transcription and served as a primary stimulus for creation of the field of molecular endocrinology.

In addition to the classic hormone-dependent pathway of nuclear receptor (NR) activation, he discovered an unsuspected “ligand-independent” pathway for NR activation that is now recognized as a critical escape pathway in antagonist-resistant breast and prostate cancers. Dr. O’Malley’s subsequent discovery of the steroid receptor coactivator, SRC-1, provided the essential missing link between NRs and the transcriptional machinery and uncovered the first of a functionally diverse array of more than 450 NR coregulators that mediate all NR-dependent functions. Using the SRC subfamily (SRC-1, SRC-2, and SRC-3) Dr. O’Malley then discovered a vast array of unsuspected nuclear and extranuclear biological activities of coactivators and unraveled a complex series of posttranslational modification (PTM) codes that govern their ability to execute distinct physiological programs. Using mouse genetics, he firmly established coactivators as “master regulators” of endocrine physiology that are of critical medical relevance to a broad spectrum of endocrine disorders including endocrine development, reproduction, neurobehavior, metabolism, and cancer development.

Dr. O’Malley’s pioneering and innovative work in each of these areas is documented in over 700 publications and has been internationally recognized with over 60 awards and honors including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine and the nation’s highest scientific honor, the National Medal of Science.

— Orla Conneely

DIANE ROBINS, PHD
University of Michigan

Diane (Didi) Robins is the recipient of the Endocrine Society 2015 Sidney Ingbar Distinguished Service Laureate Award in recognition of her remarkable service to the success and future of the Endocrine Society. Didi became a member of the Endocrine Society in 1992 and has tirelessly contributed to the Society. Over the years, she volunteered to serve on more than 12 different committees and editorial boards. She has served with distinction, wit, and enthusiasm.
Didi is a creative and engaging consensus builder and an unflagging worker. It was for these reasons that she was asked to take on the most important Endocrine Society committee leadership role—chairing the Annual Meeting Steering Committee (AMSC) for ENDO 2013. When she was telephoned and asked to take on this role, she replied: “Who else have you asked?” She was informed that she was the number one pick and the first telephone call. She set the tone and led with distinction, authority, and, of course, humor. Didi recalls: “The duty that best utilized all my talents, and was by far the most fun, was serving on the AMSC, and being Basic Science Chair in 2010 and Overall Meeting Chair in 2013.”

Didi has served (and continues to do so!) the Endocrine Society with excellence, and the Sidney Ingbar Distinguished Service Laureate Award is a fitting recognition for her tireless efforts on behalf of the Endocrine Society and its members.

— William F. Young, Jr.

DOUGLAS ROSS, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital and
Harvard Medical School

Douglas Ross was born in Boston, went to M.I.T. and Harvard Medical School, and completed his internal medicine residency and endocrine fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He presently is co-director of the Thyroid Associates practice at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Early in his career, he was the first to report on the adverse effects of subclinical hyperthyroidism on bone density. He participated in the initial multicenter trials validating the diagnostic use of human recombinant TSH for the assessment of thyroid cancer. He has been an active participant in the National Thyroid Cancer Treatment Co-operative Study Group and was lead author on its publication regarding micropapillary thyroid cancers.

He joined UpToDate in 1995 as thyroid editor, organized the thyroid section, and personally authored 41 of the topics, which have been viewed by more than 600,000 readers annually. UpToDate’s patient information topics have also helped to educate patients.

He is a frequent speaker at the annual ENDO and American Thyroid Association (ATA) meetings, and has spoken at several international meetings including the World Congresses on Thyroid Cancer (Toronto), the Thyroid Cancer International Meeting (Sao Paulo), and the International Thyroid Congresses (Buenos Aires and Toronto), among others.

He has served three terms on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and is currently on the editorial board of Thyroid. He served twice on the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Affairs Committee, and the ATA’s Hyperthyroidism Guidelines Task force, which he currently chairs.

He is a busy clinician and sees up to 60 patients a week at Massachusetts General Hospital, including weekly sessions with endocrine fellows, medical residents, and students.

In summary, Dr. Douglas Ross, a highly accomplished clinician, scholar, teacher, and educator, is an excellent choice for, and richly deserving of, the 2015 Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award of the Endocrine Society.

— Hossein Gharib

SUSAN SHERMAN, MD
Aurora Medical Associates, PC

Susan Sherman, a graduate of the University of North Carolina undergraduate and medical schools and the Northwestern endocrinology fellowship program, represents all that is wonderful about members of our specialty.

Dedicated to patient care, she has run a solo and highly respected private practice in Denver, Colo., for more than 35 years accepting patients from all socio-economic groups. Despite juggling the demands of this practice, she has enthusiastically volunteered her time to many Endocrine Society activities. Her perspective as a solo practitioner has been and continues to be a valuable asset for the Society in being able to address the concerns of our clinician constituency.

Her passion for outstanding patient care is nearly matched by her enthusiastic and prodigious volunteering for the Endocrine Society activities. Over the years, she has served on several Society committees including chairing the Clinical Affairs Core Committee, represented the Physiciansin-Practice on the Society’s Council, and continues to represent the Society at the American Medical Association as its delegate and alternate delegate. However, her activities are not confined to the Endocrine Society; she also has taken on numerous responsibilities in the American Thyroid Association, where she currently serves on the board, and at the University of Colorado, where she is clinical professor of Medicine. In her “spare time,” she has organized the highly respected Snowmass Conference in Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology for the past 20 years. In addition, she has run the Colorado Endocrine Club since 1981, facilitating local endocrinologists to have access to the outstanding members of our specialty in an informal setting.

To be able to carry all this off not only demonstrates excellent time-management skills but most importantly shows her dedication to her patients, the promotion of endocrinology, and the education of its practitioners. Dr. Sherman is richly deserving of the Society’s Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award.

— Robert Vigersky

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