Jeffrey Flier
Jeffrey S. Flier was named the 21st Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University on July 11, 2007. Flier, an endocrinologist and an authority on the molecular causes of obesity and diabetes, is also the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Previously (2002-2007), he had served as Harvard Medical School Faculty Dean for Academic Programs and Chief Academic Officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a Harvard teaching affiliate.
Born in New York City, Dr. Flier received a BS from City College of New York in 1968, and an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1972, graduating with the Elster Award for Highest Academic Standing. Following residency training in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital from 1972 to 1974, Flier moved to the National Institutes of Health as a Clinical Associate. In 1978, he joined the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, serving as Chief of the Diabetes Unit at Beth Israel Hospital until 1990, when he was named chief of the hospital's Endocrine Division.
Dr. Flier is one of the country’s leading investigators in the areas of obesity and diabetes and has authored over 200 scholarly papers and reviews. His research has produced major insights into the molecular mechanism of insulin action, the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in human disease, and the molecular pathophysiology of obesity. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Flier’s honors include the Eli Lilly Award of the American Diabetes Association, the Berson Lecture of the American Physiological Society, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Athens. He has been the recipient of a five-year $500,000 Unrestricted Metabolic Research Grant by Bristol-Myers Squibb and the 2003 Edwin B. Astwood Lecture Award from the Endocrine Society. In 2005, he received the Banting Medal from the American Diabetes Association, its highest scientific honor. In 2008, Dr. Flier was awarded the Albert Renold Award from the American Diabetes Association for outstanding achievements in the training of diabetes research scientists and the facilitation of diabetes research. In 2010, Flier was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Edinburgh. In March of 2011, Dean Flier was awarded the 2011 Rolf Luft Award for Metabolic Research by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Flier is married to Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, MD, who is also on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and with whom he has collaborated on research in the area of neuroendocrine control of body weight. They have two daughters, Lydia and Sarah, and live in Newton, Mass.
Abstracts this author is presenting: