Meet the 2018 Laureates: Robert V. Farese, Jr., MD

Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research

Robert V. Farese Jr., MD

Robert V. Farese Jr., MD, professor of genetics and complex diseases at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, is honored by the Endocrine Society with the Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research for his seminal contributions to our understanding of cellular lipid metabolism. The ability to store and mobilize lipids is fundamental to the function of all cells as lipids are central to all aspects of life. In addition to being the most efficient energy currency, lipids are also key constituents of biological membranes and major components of many biological response systems as ligands, hormones, and signaling intermediates. Many of the greatest global health problems such as obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular problems are mechanistically related to lipid excess or lipotoxicity.

Dr. Farese is an exceptional physician-scientist who has brought rigorous scientific approaches to bear on fundamental questions impacting human metabolic disease and the conception of novel therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Farese’s work has shown how alterations in lipid synthesis and storage contribute to the pathogenesis of human metabolic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, and has suggested new targets for therapy. Discoveries by Dr. Farese have unraveled pathways underlying triglyceride (TG) synthesis and storage. Most importantly, Dr. Farese and coworkers discovered the DGAT enzymes, DGAT1 and DGAT2, which catalyze TG synthesis, and he has pioneered the cell biology of lipid droplets (LDs), the cellular organelle responsible for storing triglycerides and metabolic energy. Fundamental contributions in this field include identification of hundreds of genes that govern lipid storage in cellular LDs and elucidating cellular mechanisms by which LDs grow and are catabolized. These discoveries are central to the recognition of LDs as cellular organelles and opened a few fields of study focusing on these structures mechanistically and functionally.

Dr. Farese is an exceptional physician-scientist who has brought rigorous scientific approaches to bear on fundamental questions impacting human metabolic disease and the conception of novel therapeutic strategies. He has also shown exemplary dedication to scholarship, teaching, and to the training of future researchers.