Yale researcher honored for diabetes research

Matthew Rodeheffer, associate professor of comparative medicine, was honored at the third annual Helmholtz-Nature Medicine Diabetes Conference in Munich on Sept. 21 for his groundbreaking research into how fat mass can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

Rodeheffer, part of the Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism at Yale, was the recipient of the Novo Nordisk Helmholtz Young Investigator Diabetes (HeIDi) Award.

“Sharing the stage with the other nominees was an honor on it’s own, but to be awarded the HeIDi from such an accomplished field is surreal” said Rodeheffer. “To me it is a validation of the approaches we take in our research and recognition of all the hard work done by the researchers I have had the privilege of working with in the lab.”

Rodeheffer and his lab at Yale specialize in research of adipose tissue (fat) biology, with a focus on how fat mass increases in obesity, which in turn can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

“The prize [25,000 Euro] honors young talents for their excellent research results,” Ulrich Stilz, vice president of Novo Nordisk said. “We want to encourage young scientists to continue their research and also to pursue the translational potential in order to build on their findings and develop new treatment strategies.”

“Matt is a pioneer in adipocyte development” said Tamas Horvath, director of the Yale Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism and chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine. “We are delighted that he was recognized by the international science community with this award in a competition that included outstanding investigators from leading institutions throughout the world.”