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Seminal Work on Heart Dysfunction in Diabetes Earns U Endocrinologist Top Award from International Endocrine Society
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY—E. Dale Abel, M.D., Ph.D., a world-renowned leader in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism research, has received one of the highest honors in his field – a Laureate Award from The Endocrine Society.
Abel, chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes at the University of Utah School of Medicine, is one of 11 Laureate Award recipients named for 2012. He received the award for his “outstanding” contributions to endocrinology research.
Founded in 1917, The Endocrine Society is a leading professional organization dedicated to promoting the study of hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. The society’s membership totals 14,000 people from more than 100 countries.
Laureate Award recipients are the “innovators, educators and practitioners who are transforming endocrinology,” the society said in announcing this year’s award winners. “Their accomplishments are unmatched in a broad spectrum of activities, including science, leadership, teaching and service.”
A professor of internal medicine, biochemistry, and genetics who joined the University in 2000, Abel was cited for his outstanding research in cardiac dysfunction in diabetes and the regulation of heart tissue growth and metabolism by insulin signaling. These discoveries potentially could lead to novel strategies for prevention and treatment of heart disease in diabetes.
In recent work, Abel has elucidated mechanisms that impair mitochondrial function in the hearts of diabetics, such as the impact of oxidative stress that develops in obesity and diabetes. Oxidative stress is a natural result of the body’s use of oxygen, but it can cause cellular damage through rogue molecules called free radicals. Mitochondria are the cellular “factories” that produce ATP, the main source of energy for cells. Abel is studying ways in which metabolic
changes in diabetes such as increased circulating glucose and fat, and changes in insulin concentrations alters mitochondria, and how these changes contribute to cardiovascular complications that disproportionately affects diabetics such as heart attacks, heart failure and stroke.
Eight of the 11 Laureate Awards are named for distinguished physicians/researchers in endocrinology. Abel’s award is named for Gerald D. Aurbach, M.D., an endocrinologist who revolutionized the understanding of bone metabolism and how the body maintains a proper balance of calcium. As part of the award, Abel will present the Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture on Sunday, June 24, at the 2012 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Houston Texas. His lecture is entitled: “Novel Targets for Insulin Signaling in the Heart & Vasculature.”
Along with leading the U of U Division of Endocrinology, Abel oversees the Metabolism Interest Group, an interdisciplinary consortium of 21 U of U investigators, serves on the Council of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and is president of the Society for Heart and Vascular Metabolism, among other activities. In 2012 Abel was the recipient of the University of Utah’s Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Distinguished Mentor Award
The Laureate Award is the second high international honor Abel has received this year. In March, he and cardiologist Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D., were named to the prestigious Association of American Physicians.
“I am honored and humbled to be named as recipient of the 2012 Gerald D. Aurbach Award of the Endocrine Society,” Abel said. “The award reflects the tremendous effort and dedication of the many trainees and colleagues who have worked with me here at the University of Utah over the past 10-years, as well as the support from the University and School of Medicine. It would have been difficult to accomplish these goals in another environment.”
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Contact:
Phil Sahm,
University of Utah Health Sciences Public Affairs
(801) 581-2517;
phil.sahm@hsc.utah.edu