Mitchell Lazar (born 1956) is an

endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...

and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

known for his discovery of the hormone

resistin Resistin also known as adipose tissue-specific secretory factor (ADSF) or C/EBP-epsilon-regulated myeloid-specific secreted cysteine-rich protein (XCP1) is a cysteine-rich peptide hormone derived from adipose tissue that in humans is encoded by t ...

and his contributions to the transcriptional regulation of metabolism.
Lazar
is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, and the Director of th
Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Lazar graduated from

Syosset High School Syosset High School (SHS) is a public high school located in Syosset, New York, United States, in Nassau County, on Long Island. It serves as the public high school for residents of the Syosset Central School District. As of 2012, the news mag ...

, and three years later received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, then received a PhD in Neurosciences and an MD from Stanford University. He trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and in Endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1989. Lazar's research focus is on the epigenomic regulation of gene expression and

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run c ...

. He is particularly interested in

nuclear receptors In the field of molecular biology, nuclear receptors are a class of proteins responsible for sensing steroids, thyroid hormones, vitamins, and certain other molecules. These receptors work with other proteins to regulate the expression of specif ...

, which are master regulators of metabolism. Lazar's findings relate to the basic mechanisms of nuclear receptor action and their role in obesity and diabetes, most notably the discovery of the hormone resistin. Lazar is a former member of the Board of Scientific Councilors of th
National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases
He has served as Associate Editor of ''Diabetes'', and is on the editorial boards of ''Genes & Development'', ''Cell Metabolism'', ''Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism'', ''Endocrine Reviews'', ''JCI'', and ''Science''. Lazar has been elected to the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

and the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...

. He has received two

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary age ...

s, the Van Meter Award of the

American Thyroid Association The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is a professional organization of over 1700 medical specialists devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and ...

, the BMS Freedom to Discover Award, the Richard Weitzman Award and the Edwin B. Astwood Award Lecture from the Endocrine Society, and the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award of the

. He was elected to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

in 2006, and to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2008. He is the recipient of th
2014 Transatlantic Medal of the Society for Endocrinology
In 2017 Dr. Lazar was elected to the National Academy of Sciences .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazar, Mitchell American endocrinologists Living people 1956 births Syosset High School alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Stanford University School of Medicine alumni Physician-scientists Members of the National Academy of Medicine