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Professor Gary Lewis Appointed Director, Banting & Best Diabetes Centre

June 10, 2011

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Gary Lewis as Director of the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre for a 5-year term effective July 1, 2011.

Professor Lewis received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982.  He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Centre in Chicago, followed by endocrinology clinical and research fellowship studies at the University of Chicago.

Professor Lewis was first appointed to the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, in 1990.  He is currently a full professor in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology (since 2003), Director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Toronto (since 2008), and Head of the Division of Endocrinology at the University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital (since 2001).  He has been a member of the BBDC since 1990.

The recipient of numerous honours and research awards, some of the most recent distinctions include the 2011 Albert Weinstein Lecturer (Division of Endocrinology, Vanderbilt University), a Career Investigator Award of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Canada Research Chair in Diabetes, Canadian Diabetes Association Young Scientist Award, and the Drucker Family Chair in Diabetes Research. 

Dr. Lewis has made major contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms of regulation of hepatic and intestinal lipoprotein production, HDL lowering, and the impairment of pancreatic beta cell function that underlies the development of Type 2 diabetes.  He is recognized internationally for his work in the diabetes and lipoprotein research field.

I extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Professor Daniel Drucker for his leadership during his two terms as Director of the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre.

Please join me in congratulating Professor Lewis on his appointment.

Sincerely,

Catharine Whiteside, MD, PhD, FRCP
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions