BOSTON – Christos Mantzoros, MD, DSc, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), delivered the Solomon A. Berson Distinguished Lectureship at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) held earlier this month in Washington, DC.
Named in honor of Dr. Solomon A. Berson, whose development of the methodologies for radioimmunoassay led to discoveries that have helped to shape our present-day understanding of Type II diabetes, the lectureship recognizes contributions at the forefront of endocrinology and metabolic disease. Mantzoros is the second BIDMC investigator to receive this honor, following Jeffrey S. Flier, MD, Dean of Harvard Medical School and member of BIDMC's Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, who received the 2000 Solomon A. Berson Lectureship.
Mantzoros was honored for his work in the study of adipokines, hormones that are critically important in the pathogenesis of diabetes, obesity and associated disease states, including cardiovascular disease and malignancies. As the FASEB noted, "The Mantzoros group was the first to conclusively demonstrate the role of leptin in regulating the neuroendocrine response to energy deprivation in humans and that administration of leptin corrects neuroendocrine and reproductive abnormalities associated with acute and chronic energy deprivation in humans."
An internationally recognized expert on obesity and diabetes, Mantzoros is a leading translational researcher whose work has led to discoveries that are influencing the treatment of eating disorders and contributing to our understanding of the key role that leptin plays in primary physiological functions including reproduction, metabolism and bone formation.
"Chris has greatly advanced our understanding of body-weight regulation, energy homeostasis, adipokine biology and insulin resistance," notes BIDMC Chairman of Medicine Mark Zeidel, MD, PhD. "In bringing his leptin investigations from the laboratory into clinical trials, he has demonstrated how 'bench-to-bedside' discoveries can truly influence patient care and lead to new directions in medicine."
Director of the Human Nutrition Unit at BIDMC and the Joslin Diabetes Center, Mantzoros is also Chief of Endocrinology at the Boston VA Healthcare System and Professor of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
A graduate of the University of Athens Medical School where he received MD and DSc degrees, Mantzoros holds an MSc degree in Clinical Investigation from Harvard Medical School and an MSc degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.
He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2008 Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Federation for Medical Research, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Frontiers in Science Award, the Novartis Award in Diabetes and Metabolic Disease, the Lilly Award from the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the Mead Johnson Award from the American Society for Nutrition.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is ranked third in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is a clinical partner of the Joslin Diabetes Center and a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.