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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 22, 2003 |
Media Contact: Melanie Caudron melanie.caudron@verizon.net |
Yaron Tomer, MD, Receives
American Thyroid Association's Van Meter Award
(FALLS CHURCH, VA)—Yaron Tomer, MD, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, is the 2003 recipient of the American Thyroid Association's (ATA) prestigious Van Meter Award, presented on Sept. 19 at the ATA's 75th Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
Established in 1930, the Van Meter Award honors an investigator who has made outstanding contributions to research on the thyroid gland. The award is the ATA's oldest and most anticipated because it is kept secret until the recipient presents a major lecture at the ATA Annual Meeting. Dr. Tomer's lecture was titled "Genetic Dissection of Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases." The award is supported in part by Quest Diagnostics, Inc.
During his lecture, Dr. Tomer spoke about recent advances in understanding the genetic contribution to the development of autoimmune thyroid diseases, specifically Graves' and Hashimoto's diseases. Autoimmune thyroid diseases occur when the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, which results in either hyperthyroidism (Graves' disease) or hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's disease). He highlighted solid epidemiological evidence of a strong genetic predisposition to the development of autoimmune thyroid diseases.
Recently, Dr. Tomer's group, as well as others, has made significant advances toward identifying susceptibility genes for autoimmune thyroid diseases. Dr. Tomer summarized recent data from his group, who have identified several genes and genetic regions associated with autoimmune thyroid diseases. He focused on two genes – thyroglobulin and CD40 – which they recently found to be particularly important in contributing to thyroid autoimmunity.
Dr. Tomer received his medical degree Magna Cum Laude from Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. He trained in internal medicine at Sheba Medical Center in Israel and in endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Upon completion of his training, Dr. Tomer joined the faculty of the Endocrine Division at Mount Sinai where he is now an associate professor of medicine.
Dr. Tomer is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinology. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals Endocrinology, Thyroid, Autoimmunity Reviews, and Clinical and Developmental Immunology. He was on the organizing committee for the third International Congress on Autoimmunity in Geneva in February 2002 and is a member of the ATA Research Committee and the Genomics and Nutrition committees of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Dr. Tomer has also received the ATA Research Award, the Al-Zohar Award, the Prochobnik Award, and the Gaisman Frontiers of Biomedical Sciences Research Award.
The American Thyroid Association, www.thyroid.org, is the North American professional society for physicians and researchers specializing in diseases of the thyroid gland. The ATA promotes excellence and innovation in clinical care, research, education, and public advocacy.
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