Mitchell A. Lazar Honored with Prestigious George M. Kober Medal for Pioneering Contributions to Diabetes and Metabolic Research

Newswise — PHILADELPHIA— Mitchell A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D., the Rhoda and Willard Ware Professor in Diabetes and Metabolic Disease, and Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is the 2025 recipient of the George M. Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Lazar will receive the honor in Chicago at the AAP’s annual meeting which takes place April 25-27, 2025.

The AAP, an elected society of the nation’s most distinguished physician scientists, was founded in 1885 by seven physicians, including Sir William Osler. The Kober Medal, first presented at the annual meeting in 1925, is the AAP’s highest honor, given in recognition of an AAP member whose lifetime efforts have had an enormous impact on the field of Internal Medicine (or the specific member’s discipline) through the scientific discipline they have brought to the field and the many outstanding scientists that they have trained. Past Penn faculty to receive the Kober Medal include former Deans Arthur Rubenstein (2012) and Bill Kelley (2005).

Lazar has made fundamental discoveries uncovering connections between hormone receptors, circadian rhythms, and the regulation of gene expression in normal physiology as well as metabolic diseases including diabetes and obesity. He has also been a leader in academic medicine while at Penn, serving as Chief of the Penn Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism from 1996-2019 and as founding director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism. Nationally, Lazar has served on the Board of Scientific Councilors of the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, the Council of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Council of the AAP, which he also served as President in 2021.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the prestigious George M. Kober Medal from the AAP. This recognition is not just a personal achievement but a testament to the dedication and collaborative efforts of my colleagues and trainees over the years,” said Lazar. “It is a privilege to be acknowledged for our work in unraveling the complexities of metabolic diseases as well as our contributions to academic medicine.”

33 trainees from the Lazar Lab have gone on to faculty positions, including 21 who are at institutions in the United States, including University of Pennsylvania (3), Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (2), Washington University in St. Louis, Baylor College of Medicine (2), UT Southwestern, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California, San Francisco, Cleveland Clinic, and Tufts University. Twelve are in faculty positions in other countries, including universities and institutes in Austria, Denmark, Germany (2), France (2), Japan (3), and China (3). 39 others have gone on to careers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

###

Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.

The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation’s top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.

Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.