Ralph A. DeFronzo,
MD has been honored
as the 2008 Presidential
Distinguished Scholar
at the University of
Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio.
The award was presented
on January 31. Dr. DeFronzo
was teaching a post-graduate course at
the Endocrine Fellows Foundation in
San Francisco on that day, so his wife
accepted the award on his behalf from
UTHSCSA President Francisco G.
Cigarroa, MD.
The Distinguished Scholar also
received a cash award of $5,000.
Dr. DeFronzo joined UTHSCSA in
1988. His work has led to new ideas
about how diabetes develops and progresses
and novel concepts concerning
insulin resistance. He is a leader in the
development and testing of new diabetes
therapies, and the oral drug metformin,
taken by thousands of diabetes
patients worldwide, developed from his
work on new diabetes therapies.
Colleagues praise Dr. DeFronzo for
his dedication, mentioning that he has
been able to garner 30 years of sustained
funding from the National Institutes
of Health and 20 years of funding from
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Later this year, Dr. DeFronzo will
receive the Claude Bernard Award from
the European Association for the Study
of Diabetes in Rome, Italy. In 2005, he
received the Novartis Award recognizing
him as the outstanding clinical investigator
worldwide at the Annual Scientific
Meeting of the American Diabetes Association
(ADA), and in 2002 he received
the Albert Renold Award from the ADA
in recognition for training more than
200 young diabetes investigators. Dr.
DeFronzo also has published more
than 500 articles in various journals.
He also has been a driving force in
establishing the University Health
System Texas Diabetes Institute on San
Antonio’s West Side, a 153,000-squarefoot
facility that provides care in every
diabetes-related discipline and features
a clinical research area, as well
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