Chevy Chase, MD, June 14, 2008 - The Endocrine Society is pleased to announce that Andrew F. Stewart, MD is the 2008 recipient of its Gerald D. Aurbach Award Lecture. This award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions to research in endocrinology. The Aurbach Award Lecture will be presented to Dr. Stewart at ENDO 08, the 90th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society, which will take place from June 15-18, 2008, in San Francisco, California.

Considered an international authority in disorders of bone and mineral metabolism, Dr. Stewart has epitomized the translational investigator, equally comfortable at the bench and the bedside. He was the first to characterize in complete biochemical detail the common paraneoplastic syndrome, humoral hypercalemia of malignancy, or HHM, a common cause of death in patients with breast, lung, and other common cancers. This led him to purify and sequence parathyroid hormone-related protein, PTHrP. As a result, he and his colleagues went on to establish a causal relationship between the causative hormone, PTHrP, and the disease, HHM.

In 1997, he became Chief of the Division of Endocrinology at the University of Pittsburgh. Since then, he has built one of the strongest research and clinical endocrinology divisions in the United States. His research has focused primarily on the normal physiology and therapeutic applications of PTHrP, and more recently, on a second area of pancreatic cell cycle control as therapeutic approaches to Types 1 and 2 diabetes.

Dr. Stewart’s over 200 publications have appeared in journals including Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Circulation, and Diabetes. He is a regular speaker for invited symposia at meetings of The Endocrine Society, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Reasearch, and the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Stewart has served on the Annual Meeting Steering Committee for The Endocrine Society, and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is currently Secretary-Treasurer of The Endocrine Society.

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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.