Columbia University Medical Center presents the 2009 Naomi Berrie Awards

Major diabetes honor recognizes USC's Richard Nathan Bergman; Fellow Award goes to junior investigator at Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center will present the 2009 Naomi Berrie Awards to a nationally recognized diabetes researcher, and a promising young investigator, for their outstanding achievements in diabetes research.

The Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diabetes Research goes to Richard Nathan Bergman, Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Bergman and three of his labs at USC are studying different aspects of the causes of type 2 diabetes, a disease which afflicts 20 million Americans, and which is a primary cause of heart disease, blindness and kidney disease.

Dr. Bergman's work ranges from cell biology to epidemiology and population genetics, but all of it is related to diabetes research.

"Dr. Bergman developed models and in vivo measurements for the factors that determine glucose metabolism. Based upon these models, he developed a glucose 'disposition index' that quantifies the nature of the interactions between insulin sensitivity and pancreatic secretion. The index is predictive of the development of type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Rudolph Leibel, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. "These insights and approaches have been used by clinical and basic scientists studying type 2 diabetes."

The awards ceremony will take place at the 11th Annual Frontiers in Diabetes Research Conference on "Biology of the Beta Cell" being held today, November 14, 2009, from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, 1150 St. Nicholas Ave., New York, New York.