Chevy Chase, MD, June 14, 2008 - The Endocrine Society is pleased to announce that Joel K. Elmquist, D.V.M., Ph.D., and Randy Seeley, Ph.D., are the 2008 recipients of its Ernest Oppenheimer Award. This award is presented to young investigators annually in recognition of their accomplishments in the field of basic or clinical endocrinology. The award will be presented to Drs. Elmquist and Seeley at ENDO 08, The Endocrine Society’s 90th Annual Meeting, which will take place from June 15-18, 2008, in San Francisco, California.

Joint recipients Elmquist and Seeley have each made major advances to the understanding of the brain regulation and energy metabolism link. Dr. Elmquist has brought forth studies identifying sites in the brain that underlie the coordinated control of food intake, body weight, and glucose homeostasis. He and his colleagues have made and used unique mouse models that allow manipulation of key genes regulating energy balance in selected neurons, helping to identify the neural circuitry through which key metabolic signals like leptin and ghrelin exert their effects. Likewise, Dr. Seeley has engendered studies identifying the hypothalamic MC-4 and GLP-1 receptors as key mediators of feeding, and identified the key regulatory centers that govern the actions of leptin and other anorectic signaling molecules. His work has shaped the current view of neural signaling as integrated to control energy metabolism, while Dr. Elmquist’s research has made major advances in identifying the pathways in the brain involved in maintaining energy homeostasis. These researchers have strengthened knowledge of the brain-obesity link for the overall benefit of endocrinology research.

Dr. Elmquist is Director of the Division of Hypothalmic Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. There, he has been appointed the Maclin Family Professor in Medical Science, in honor of Dr. Roy A. Brinkley, in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Pharmacology, and Psychiatry.

Dr. Seeley is co-director of the University of Cincinnati Obesity Research Center and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Cincinnati College of Medicine, where his work remains a critical tool for identifying potential targets for new drugs to treat obesity. Dr. Seely’s focus is on initiating signals that identify how nutrient signals affect key brain nuclei involved in feeding.

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Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest, largest, and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, The Endocrine Society's membership consists of over 14,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in more than 80 countries. Together, these members represent all basic, applied, and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Chevy Chase, Md. To learn more about the Society, and the field of endocrinology, visit our web site at www.endo-society.org.