Mitchell
A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D.
Sylvan H. Eisman Professor of Medicine & Genetics
Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism
Director, Penn Diabetes Center
University
of Pennsylvania
Division of Endocrinology,
Diabetes & Metabolism
415 Curie Boulevard
611 Clinical Research Building
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6149
Phone: (215) 898-0198
Fax: (215) 898-5408
E-mail: lazar@mail.med.upenn.edu
Education
Undergraduate:
MIT
S.B. in Chemistry
Medical: Stanford University School of Medicine
Degree: Ph.D. in Neuroscience
Stanford University School of Medicine
Degree: M.D.
Residency
Brigham
and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusettes
Fellowship:
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusettes
Board Certification:
Internal Medicine
Endocrinology and Metabolsim
Biography
Mitchell
A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D. is Chief of the Division
of
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Dr. Lazar
is also a Sylvan H. Eisnman Professor of Medicine
and Genetics at the
University of Pennsylvania, and the Director of the
Penn Diabetes Center. Dr. Lazar received his
S.B.
in Chemistry from M.I.T., and his M.D. and Ph.D.
(in Neurosciences) from Stanford Medical School.
Before
coming to Penn he was a resident in Medicine at Brigham
and Women's Hospital in Boston, a clinical and
research
fellow in Endocrinology at Massachusetts General
Hospital, a Research Associate of the Howard
Hughes Medical
Institute, and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard
Medical School. Dr. Lazar has been on the Penn
faculty since
1989.
Dr. Lazar has received many professional awards and
honors including the AFCR Foundation-Merck Early Career
Development Award, the Van Meter Prize from the American
Thyroid Association, the Richard E. Weitzman Award
from The Endocrine Society, and the Outstanding Investigator
Award in Basic Science from the American Federation
of Medical Research. He is also the recipient of an
NIH MERIT award and a member of the American Society
of Clinical Investigation, where he serves on the
council. Dr. Lazar also serves on the Editorial Boards
of numerous journals including Molecular and Cellular
Biology, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Molecular
Endocrinology Thyroid, and Trends in Endocrinology
and Metabolism.
Dr. Lazar's research is focused on mechanisms of hormone
action. His laboratory is particularly interested
in receptors for small, lipophilic hormones such as
thyroid hormone and retinoic acid. These receptors
are transcription factors, whose mechanisms of gene
regulation are actively being explored. Current research
focuses on understanding the mechanism of corepressor
recruitment, the composition and function of the corepressor
complex, and what goes wrong in malignancy, especially
myeloid leukemia. We are also studying PPAR (peroxisome
proliferator activated receptor), a fascinating new
receptor that is regulated by thiazolidinediones,
a new class of anti-diabetes drugs. PPAR is a determinant
of adipocyte (fat cell) differentiation, and thus
represents a potential clue to the link between obesity
and diabetes. We have been studying regulation of
PPAR activity, and have also discovered a novel target
gene for PPAR which encodes a previously unknown polypeptide
hormone made by fat cells. Resistin is made only in
fat cells, is secreted into the bloodstream, and reduces
insulin sensitivity. Thus, it is a potential link
between PPAR, obesity, and diabetes. We are now studying
the molecular physiology of resistin in a number of
model systems.
