Endocrine Society Names 13 Laureate Award Winners for 2027
The Endocrine Society has selected 13 endocrinologists for its 2027 Laureate Awards, the organization’s highest honors for achievement in research, clinical care, education, mentorship, and leadership. The awards will be presented at ENDO 2027, scheduled for June 5-7 in Toronto, Ontario.
The list spans basic science, translational research, bedside diagnosis, medical education, global endocrinology, and leadership in bone, reproductive, metabolic, and hormone-related disease. It is a reminder that endocrinology advances through more than laboratory discovery alone; the field depends on clinicians who can move carefully from mechanism to diagnosis, from diagnosis to treatment, and from treatment to long-term patient care.
The Society established the Laureate Awards in 1944. Since then, the program has served as a marker of influence across the endocrine community, honoring people whose work has altered how common and complex disorders are understood and managed.
One award, the Edwin B. Astwood Award for Outstanding Research in Basic Science, goes to JoAnne S. Richards, MS, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine. Her work has shaped reproductive endocrinology for more than five decades, with major contributions to ovarian development, ovulation, and ovarian cancer biology. Her research identified hormonal and molecular pathways regulating ovarian function, including estrogen and luteinizing hormone signaling, and helped establish mouse models that changed the study of ovarian cancer. Those discoveries matter because the ovary is not only a reproductive organ but also a site where endocrine signaling, cell growth, and malignancy intersect in highly regulated ways.
Mirjam Christ-Crain, MD, PhD, of University Hospital Basel, received the Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award for work that changed how vasopressin-related disorders are diagnosed and treated. Her research established copeptin-based testing as the new gold standard for diagnosing arginine vasopressin deficiency, formerly central diabetes insipidus, and introduced new treatment approaches for syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis. The clinical value is direct: patients with these disorders can present with major disruptions in water balance, sodium levels, cognition, and daily functioning, and a more precise biochemical pathway to diagnosis reduces diagnostic delay and misclassification.
A single biomarker has redrawn the diagnostic pathway for a disorder once defined by uncertainty.
In another field where access and systems of care matter as much as physiology, Bagher Larijani, MD, of Tehran University of Medical Science, received the International Excellence in Endocrinology Award. As professor of endocrinology and director of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, he has advanced diabetes care, research, and education in Iran and beyond. His work reflects the practical demands of endocrinology in settings where chronic disease burden is high and specialist resources can be unevenly distributed. Multidisciplinary care, training, and research capacity all sit at the center of that effort.
Rebecca Adochio, MD, earned the Vigersky Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award for work as a practicing endocrinologist, educator, and health care leader in Colorado. As medical director of Colorado Mountain Medical/Vail Health in Avon, she expanded endocrine access, promoted telehealth, and led community education focused on diabetes prevention and management. In regions where geography can limit specialist availability, the combination of outpatient endocrinology and remote care can determine whether patients receive timely titration of therapy, preventive counseling, or follow-up after unstable glycemic control.
Amal Shibli-Rahhal, MD, received the Outstanding Educator Award for her influence on endocrine teaching at the University of Iowa. Her leadership spans curriculum development, mentorship, and classroom-to-clinic training. A steady pipeline of well-trained clinicians remains central to endocrine practice, where diabetes, thyroid disease, osteoporosis, and reproductive disorders often require long-term follow-up and careful interpretation of laboratory data.
Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, MD, MPH, was recognized with the Outstanding Mentor Award for a career devoted to training researchers and physician-scientists at the American University of Beirut and across the Middle East. Her work in bone and mineral research, including the NIH-funded Scholars in Health Research Program, has helped build research capacity across the region. The impact of mentorship in endocrinology is often cumulative: one trained investigator can influence patient care, education, and research programs for years.
The Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award went to Anuja Dokras, MD, MHCI, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania. Her leadership has transformed understanding of Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS), previously known as polycystic ovary syndrome. She established one of the first multidisciplinary PMOS centers in the United States and advanced research on long-term health risks, including mental health and cardiovascular disease. Reproductive endocrinology often begins with menstrual dysfunction or infertility, but the biology extends well beyond the ovary, reaching cardiometabolic risk and psychological health.
Research That Recast Hormones, Aging, and Reproduction
Rafael Arrojo e Drigo, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, received the Richard E. Weitzman Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award for research on thyroid hormone biology, diabetes, and aging. His work integrates molecular, cellular, and whole-organism approaches, and his discovery of “age mosaicism” revealed that aging is spatially and biologically regulated within tissues. That idea has implications for how scientists think about organ aging, local hormone signaling, and tissue-specific disease vulnerability.
Shalender Bhasin, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was honored with the Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research for landmark work on testosterone therapy and hypogonadism. His studies helped define standards for diagnosis and treatment, clarified the benefits and risks of testosterone therapy, and advanced approaches to muscle loss in aging and disease. In endocrinology, few topics demand as much balance between symptom relief, endocrine replacement, and safety monitoring.
Stephanie Seminara, MD, of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, received the Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research. Her work uses genetics and novel peptide probes to illuminate hypothalamic pathways controlling human reproduction, including the genetic architecture of puberty and fertility. Translational endocrinology depends on exactly this kind of bridge-building, where biologic discovery can lead to diagnostic tools and more precise care for patients with reproductive disorders.
Aliya Khan, MD, FRCP, FACP, earned the Outstanding Leadership in Endocrinology Award for contributions to metabolic bone and parathyroid disorders. Her leadership in evidence-based guidelines, novel therapies, and fellowship training has influenced clinical practice and specialist education worldwide. Bone and mineral disease often requires long time horizons, careful monitoring, and familiarity with evolving treatment standards, making leadership and training especially consequential.
Nominations for the 2028 Laureate Awards will open later this fall.