News & Research

The Thomas R. Lee Award

The Thomas R. Lee Award goes to the Career Development Award applicant who receives the highest reviewer score on his/her application in a given fiscal year. The award not only recognizes excellence in diabetes research, but also signifies the ADA's belief that the recipient will continue to be a premier researcher who will have great impact in diabetes treatment, prevention or in the search for a cure.

The Thomas R. Lee Career Development Award is funded in full by the Estate of Mr. Thomas R. Lee of Norfolk, Virginia. For most of his life, Mr. Lee was a successful land owner and property developer in and around his beloved hometown of Norfolk. Known by all for his skilled business sense, dedication to friends and tremendous kindness to others, he generously supported the causes for which he was most passionate. Inspired by his personal battle with diabetes, Mr. Lee made sure that a charitable portion of his estate went to the American Diabetes Association upon his death.

Winners of the Thomas R. Lee Career Development Award include:

2009 - Umut Ozcan, MD, Children's Hospital Boston
"Role Of ER Stress and ATF4 In Development Of Leptin Resistance"

2008 - David H. Wagner, Jr., PhD, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Webb-Waring Institute
"CD40 As A Biomarker in Type 1 Diabetes"

2007 - Jianhua Shao, PhD, University of California, San Diego
"Transcriptional regulation of adiponectin gene expression"

2006 - Zheng-Gen Jin, PhD, University of Rochester Medical Center 
"Molecular basis for diabetes-associated endothelial dysfunction"

2005 - Keyong Du, PhD, New England Medical Center
"A novel Akt interacting protein that regulates glucose transport and Akt compartmentalized activation by insulin"

2004 - Raghavendra Mirmira, MD, PhD, Indiana University
"Epigenetic regulation of insulin gene transcription" 

2003 - Vincent Poitout, PhD, DVM, Pacific Northwest Research Institute
“Mechanisms of Fatty-Acid Potentiation of Insulin Secretion”

2002 - Louis Ragolia, PhD, Winthrop University Hospital
“The Molecular Basis of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis”

The Gail Patrick Innovation Award

Yong Zhao, MD, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been named the winner of the Winter/Spring 2010 Gail Patrick Innovation Award for his project, "Mechanism of reversal of type 1 diabetes by cord blood stem cell-modulated regulatory T cells."  

This award, named in honor of Gail Patrick, the legendary Motion Picture actress and first national chair of the ADA Board of Directors, is given to the Innovation Award applicant receiving the best reviewer score in a given fiscal year. Prestigious awardees receive $50,000 per year for two years to support an innovative idea that advances the Association’s efforts to prevent, treat and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by the disease.

Other Gail Patrick Innovation Award winners include:

2007 - Christopher Saudek, MD, Johns Hopkins University
"Test of a Unique Isotopic Biomarker for Studies of Obesity and Diabetes"

2007 - Teresa Paula DiLorenzo, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
“Pharmacologic Repression of an Autoantigen Gene in Type 1 Diabetes.”

2006 - Pamela Jean Fink, PhD, University of Washington
“Induction of Tolerance to Pancreatic Antigens in Recent Thymic Emigrants”

2006 - Anthony Carruthers, PhD
“Can we Prevent HIV-protease inhibitor-Induced Insulin Resistance by Understanding GLUT4 Inhibition?”

2005 - Steven M. Tracy, PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center
“Coxsackievirus Induction of Insulitis in Young NOD Mice”

National Achievement Awards

For additional recognition of research excellence awarded by the American Diabetes Association, please visit our National Achievement Awards page.