February 13, 2019

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pride that we announce that Mitchell A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D., the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor in Diabetes and Metabolic Disease, Director of the Penn Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, is the recipient of the 2019 Rolf Luft Award from the Karolinska Institute for his pioneering work in the transcriptional regulation of metabolism.  The Rolf Luft award recognizes outstanding scientific contribution in endocrinology and diabetes. Dr. Lazar will present the Luft Prize Lecture entitled "Nuclear Receptors, Circadian Rhythms, and Metabolism" at the Nobel Forum in Stockholm on May 8th, 2019.  Past awardees have included University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine alumnus and Nobel laureate Dr. Michael Brown.

In the announcement that accompanied this award, the Karolinska Institute highlighted Dr. Lazar's discovery of resistin, elucidation of the role of PPARg in adipose biology and the links between obesity and insulin resistance, and demonstration of causal links between the molecular circadian clock and metabolism.  The discoveries made by Dr. Lazar span molecular biology, physiology, endocrinology and metabolism, and have translational relevance and considerable therapeutic potential.  We congratulate Dr. Lazar on this well-deserved and prestigious award.

With best regards,

J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph.D.      Jonathan A. Epstein, M.D.             Michael S. Parmacek, M.D.