M.D. is Professor and Chairman of
Medicine and Chancellor Scholar at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson School of
Medicine. Prior to this appointment, he wasProfessor of Medicine and Physiology and Director of the
NIH-funded DiabetesResearch and Training Center at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine.Earlier in his career, he was Professor of
Medicine and Chief of Endocrinologyand Metabolism Division at the
University of Chicago and also Director of
the Diabetes Research and Training
Center there. Dr. Wondisford has madeoutstanding contributions to the field of diabetes including
describing thehepatic action of the widely prescribed oral
diabetes medication, metformin,understanding the transcriptional mechanism of
hepatic glucose production,and elucidating the role of insulin
signaling in the pathogenesis of PCOS.Independently, he has impacted the thyroid field in both
understanding ofthe physiology of thyroid hormone action
and improving the care for patientswith thyroid cancer. Among his most
influential contributions to thyroidologyis his research on the biological
behavior of thyroid hormone receptors,thyroid hormone feedback on the
hypothalamic-pituitary axis, and thyroid
hormone resistant states. In
addition, his identification cloning of TSH subunitgenes early in his research career led directly to the
clinical development ofrecombinant TSH (Thyrogen)
for diagnostic and therapeutic use in thyroidcancer. Thyrogen, which is widely used today for the
treatment of patients withthyroid cancer, is the 5th most profitable
patent in NIH history.
Dr. Wondisford has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1990 andhas scientifically mentored 62 trainees, and 35 have gone
on to independentacademic research careers. He has won
numerous awards for his research fromthe Endocrine Society (Weitzman and Knoll Awards) and American ThyroidAssociation (Van Meter and Ingbar Awards). He is also a member of the
honorary medical societies: American
Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI),Association of American Physicians
(AAP) and Association of Professors ofMedicine (APM).