An Addenbrooke’s honorary consultant who has won top accolades for his cutting-edge work has just been presented with another.
Sir Stephen O’Rahilly was on Thursday (21 March) presented with the German Society of Endocrinology‘s highest award, known as the Berthold medal.
It is named after the German scientist Arnold Adolf Berthold (1803-1861), who is regarded as a pioneer of hormone research and the first to prove the existence of hormones.
With the medal, the society honours international hormone researchers who continue Berthold’s legacy with their ground-breaking findings.
Sir Stephen leads one of the world’s largest institutes for metabolic research at the University of Cambridge and his findings have been recognised internationally. In 2013 he was knighted for services to medical research, specifically, his work in obesity and diabetes research.
He is Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit and Scientific Director of the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and honorary consultant physician at CUHFT
The award took place as part of the Berthold Lecture where Professor O’Rahilly, from Cambridge’s Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories, gave an insight into his scientific work with his lecture “Adventures in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Behaviour”.
Afterwards Sir Stephen said:
I want to say a heartfelt thanks to the German Society of Endocrinology. I am very honoured to accept this award on behalf of all those wonderful people who have supported our work over many years.
Sir Stephen O’Rahilly
In June 2023 Sir Stephen was awarded the highly coveted biennial OU Health Harold Hamm International Prize for Biomedical Research in Diabetes. It is awarded to an individual who has either demonstrated lifelong contributions to the field, or realised a singular advance, especially one that promotes curative potential.
Established in 2012, is named after Harold Hamm, chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Resources, Inc., who provided for an endowment to fund the prize in perpetuity.