C. Ronald Kahn, the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief academic officer and senior investigator at Joslin Diabetes Center, is one of two recipients of the Wolf Prize in Medicine in recognition of his research in insulin signaling.
Awarded by the Wolf Foundation, the Wolf Prize is among the most prestigious honors in medicine, after the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award. The prize honors scientists who have had a significant impact in scientific research and demonstrated exceptional talent and accomplishments in their field.
The award will be presented this June in Jerusalem by the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin.
“I am both delighted and surprised to receive the Wolf Prize,” Kahn said. “I am incredibly grateful for all of the support I have had throughout my career, both from the people in my lab and the many wonderful people with whom I have worked both within and outside of Joslin.
“While this is an international award and I have had some great fellows and colleagues from all over the world, a number of them have been from Israel, so winning this prestigious award from Israel is especially meaningful.”
Kahn was recognized for his pioneering studies defining insulin signaling and its alterations in disease. This work has been essential to understanding the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.
His finding that the insulin receptor transmits insulin signals through activation of an intrinsic protein tyrosine kinase was the first step in unraveling the insulin-signaling cascade. These studies formed the basis of present knowledge of the pathogenesis of insulin resistance.
In concurrent studies, Kahn demonstrated that insulin resistance precedes and leads to type 2 diabetes. He was also the first to define the important role of insulin action in unexpected tissues such as brain, vascular endothelial cells and pancreatic beta cells, linking insulin resistance to development of Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis, as well as diabetes.
“Dr. Kahn is a world-renowned leader in type 2 diabetes and obesity research. His breakthrough research on insulin signaling and resistance has been fundamental in our understanding of type 2 diabetes,” said Peter Amenta, president and CEO of Joslin. “This award clearly reflects the extensive impact his work has had on our understanding of the causes of diabetes and ultimately the development of treatments for this disease.”
Kahn will share this year’s Wolf Prize with Lewis Cantley, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College/Ronald P. Stanton Clinical Cancer Program at New York-Presbyterian and professor of cancer biology in medicine at Weill Cornell. Cantley is being honored for his discovery of phosphoinositide-3 kinases and their roles in physiology and disease.
Kahn has been a member of the HMS faculty since 1981. From 1981 to 2000, he served as Joslin’s research director and became Joslin’s president from 2000 to 2007. In 2012 he was named the center’s first chief academic officer.
The Wolf Foundation has awarded prizes in the sciences since 1978. The prize in each field consists of a certificate and $100,000.
Adapted from a Joslin news release.
