Mount Sinai Researcher, Derek LeRoith, MD, Receives Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award at AACE’s Annual Scientific Sessions

Newswise — (Phoenix, Arizona – May 4, 2013) –Jeffrey Mechanick, MD, Director of Metabolic Support in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease and Clinical Professor of Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, was announced as the new President of the American Academy of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) during the 22nd Annual Scientific & Clinical Congress in Phoenix on May 4.

During the same conference, Derek LeRoith, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was presented with the American College of Endocrinology Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award.

• Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick Elected President of the AACE“As the former vice-president, treasurer and secretary of the AACE, Dr. Mechanick has had outstanding training and experience in the challenges and opportunities facing the organization and in the mechanisms available to meet the needs of our members,” said Dr. Alan Garber, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Cell, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Baylor College of Medicine and current president of the AACE. “It is a very natural transition for him to become the next AACE President. He has excellent academic training and I am confident that he is well prepared to become the next chief officer.” Dr. Mechanick’s Presidency will be effective May 6.

"AACE is the largest professional clinical endocrinology association in the world, and with the emerging diabetes and obesity pandemic, figures prominently in a contemporary healthcare arena,” said Dr. Mechanick. “To become AACE President adds a dimension of responsibility and excitement unparalleled in my life, and this is an opportunity I am eager to engage. My goals are to continue and produce initiatives that improve clinical endocrinology practice and research. “As Director of Metabolic Support in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at Mount Sinai, Dr. Mechanick is responsible for training endocrine fellows in nutrition and metabolic support. He also has a private practice in endocrinology and metabolic support in New York City.

His research interests range from predictive modeling in critical illness, thyroid cancer, metabolic bone disease, diabetes, and nutrition. He has authored over 200 publications in endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition support. He is past President of the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists and is the section editor for Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care and Current Opinion in Endocrinology and Diabetes. He has been appointed as a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board and currently serves as the lead editor of the Council’s Research Digest. He received his M.D. degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, completed an internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed an endocrine fellowship at Mount Sinai.

• Dr. Derek LeRoith Receives Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award

In recognition of advancing the understanding of endocrinology through research and education, Dr. Derek LeRoith was the recipient of The American College of Endocrinology Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award at the AACE scientific session on May 2.

“Dr. LeRoith is a distinguished leader in clinical endocrinology and a prominent expert in diabetes research and practice whose contributions have had a tremendous impact nationally and worldwide,” said Dr. Yaron Tomer, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at Mount Sinai. “His current research elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying associations between cancer and diabetes promise to stimulate medical innovation, further discovery, and ultimately improved patient care.”

Dr. LeRoith joined the faculty of Mount Sinai in 2005 as Professor of Medicine and former Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease. He also served as a former Director of the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism Institute at Mount Sinai in 2010. Prior to his career at Mount Sinai, Dr. LeRoith was chief of the diabetes branch at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Pioneering work from Dr. LeRoith has included the discovery of the relationship between insulin and the insulin-like growth factors and cancer progression. The discovery of endogenous hyperinsulinemia in diabetic patients and enhanced breast cancer growth and metastases in diabetic mice which has helped to explain the increased cancer risk and cancer-related mortality seen in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. His research has been supported by grants from the NIH and the American Diabetes Association. He has published over 600 original research papers, reviews and editorials and edited a number of books on Diabetes and IGF-related topics. Dr. LeRoith served on the Board of Directors of the National American Diabetes Association, was the President of the International IGF Research Society and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Endocrine Fellows Foundation.

About The Mount Sinai Medical CenterThe Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Established in 1968, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Icahn School of Medicine is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty members in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of just 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.

Find Mount Sinai on:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainycTwitter @mountsinainycYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy.