Daniel Drucker

“Daniel Drucker, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health and a University Professor in the department of medicine in the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, is one of four researchers to be honoured with the prestigious Frontiers of Knowledge Award.

Presented by Spain’s BBVA Foundation, the award recognizes scientists and innovators whose contributions are helping guide humanity’s response to pressing global challenges.

Drucker and collaborators were recognized for uncovering the role of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a gut hormone that has enabled the development of novel therapeutics to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity and opened up new avenues of exploration for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

He shared the prize with Professors Joel Habener of Harvard Medical School, Svetlana Mojsov of Rockefeller University and Jens Juul Holst of the University of Copenhagen. The four researchers previously won the 2023 VinFuture Special Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields.

“What I’m most excited about going forward are new innovations in the field that will bring GLP-1 drugs to many millions of people who currently can’t access these medicines, enabling the health benefits to be extended not just to rich countries that can afford them, but to people all over the world,” Drucker said.

Past recipients of the Frontiers of Knowledge Award include U of T University Professors Emeriti Stephen Cook and Geoffrey Hinton – with Hinton among 31 Frontiers of Knowledge laureates who went on to win Nobel Prizes.”

Published by University of Toronto

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