Meet the 2020 Laureates: R. Michael Tuttle, MD

Michael Tuttle, MD

Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award

Michael Tuttle, MD, is professor of medicine, Cornell University and clinical director of the Endocrine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. He is a leading clinician-investigator in the field of thyroid cancer and his work has shifted the paradigm in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) treatment.

Dr. Tuttle is a leader in the study of radiation-induced thyroid cancer, having served as consultant to the Centers for Disease Control for Radiation Exposure of Peoples in the Marshall Islands, The Hanford Downwinder Project, and advisor to the National Academy of Science for Radiation Exposed Populations. He remains at the forefront in identifying driver mutations for DTC and exploiting these pathways with multi-kinase inhibitors (TKI) for treatment of radioiodine resistant DTC.

Dr. Tuttle…serves as a mentor to innumerable young clinicians, a leader in the Endocrine Society…and as a true role model for everyone in endocrinology. He is the penultimate clinician-scientist.

Dr. Tuttle’s work changed the way in which we manage DTC. Prior to this, all patients with DTC were treated with total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine (RAI). Dr. Tuttle was one of the pioneers to use serum thyroglobulin (Tg) as an indicator of residual DTC. He led international studies proving the efficacy of recombinant thyrotropin (rhTSH) for determination of TSH-stimulated Tg. This work led to stratification of patients with DTC into risk categories based on operative findings, and serum Tg levels, thus allowing low-risk patients to avoid RAI and to be treated with lobectomy alone. In conjunction with his molecular studies, his clinical work opened the field for multikinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy for radio-iodine resistant DTC, an area in which he remains one of the most important pioneers.

Dr. Tuttle leads expert panels to develop treatment guidelines for DTC, and serves as a mentor to innumerable young clinicians, a leader in the Endocrine Society and the American Thyroid Association, and as a true role model for everyone in endocrinology. He is the penultimate clinician-scientist.