Prizes shared with Jeffrey Friedman of Rockefeller University and HHMI
Douglas Coleman, Ph.D., a retired Jackson Laboratory scientist whose work established the first clues to a genetic component in obesity, has won two major international science awards: the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine from the BBVA Foundation, based in Bilbao, Spain, and the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine from the Saudi Arabian King Faisal Foundation.
Coleman, 81, will share both prizes with Jeffrey Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., of Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"I'm delighted and honored to be sharing these awards with Jeff Friedman," Coleman said, adding that receiving news of both awards on Monday was "pretty amazing. It's like a hole in one!"
Coleman conducted his groundbreaking work in the 1950s and 1960s, with Friedman building on Coleman's discoveries from the 1990s to today. Together their work showed that chemical and genetic factors -- not just willpower and eating habits -- are involved in appetite control and obesity, opening possibilities for future pharmaceutical treatments. Their work also demonstrated that fat is not simply a passive energy-storage site, as previously thought, but is an endocrine organ that produces important hormones.
The BBVA Foundation will present its award to the scientists at a ceremony in Spain in June. The Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine includes a 400,000-Euro (about $540,000) cash gift to be shared by the scientists. The Foundation is affiliated with BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria), one of Spain's largest banks.