Jeffrey Friedman, MD

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

, PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

, (born July 20, 1954) is a molecular geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...

 at New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's Rockefeller University

Rockefeller University

The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...

. His discovery of the hormone

Hormone

A hormone is a chemical released by a cell or a gland in one part of the body that sends out messages that affect cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. In essence, it is a chemical messenger that transports a signal from one...

 leptin

Leptin

Leptin is a 16 kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. It is one of the most important adipose derived hormones...

 and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

 obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

.

Biography

Friedman was born in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

 in 1954, and grew up in North Woodmere, New York

North Woodmere, New York

North Woodmere is an unincorporated area section of Valley Stream, located in Nassau County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. North Woodmere is directly north of Woodmere, but separated from it by Mott's Creek. Access to Woodmere is available via Branch Boulevard and a footbridge over...

, graduating from Hewlett High School

George W. Hewlett High School

George W. Hewlett High School is a four-year public high school in Hewlett, New York, which is a part of the Five Towns area of the South Shore of Long Island. The school is the only high school in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District . On March 13, 2008, Asst. Principal Thomas Russo was named...

 in the Class of 1971. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...

 and, in 1977, received his medical degree from Albany Medical College

Albany Medical College

Albany Medical College is a medical school located in Albany, New York, United States. It was founded in 1839 by Amos Dean, Dr. Thomas Hun and others, and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation...

 of Union University

Graduate College of Union University

Union Graduate College is part of a federation of Albany College of Pharmacy, Albany Law School, Albany Medical College, Dudley Observatory, Graduate College of Union University, and Union College which together form Union University, a historic linkage dating back to 1873.Each member institution...

 in Albany, NY

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

 (through a combined six year program). His postgraduate life includes completing two residencies at Albany Medical Center Hospital, a postgraduate fellowship at Rockefeller as well as one at Cornell University Medical College

Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University

The Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences is a graduate college of Cornell University that was founded in 1952 as an academic partnership between two major medical institutions in New York City: the Weill Cornell Medical College and the Sloan-Kettering Institute...

. In 1986, he received a Ph.D. and became an assistant investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...

 (HHMI).

In 2005, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

. He now has two daughters, Nathalie and Alex.

Awards

His work in the area of obesity led to him receiving two prestigious awards in 2005: the Gairdner Foundation International Award and the Passano Foundation Award. His work on leptin garnered him much television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 time, including an appearance on the PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 show Scientific American Frontiers

Scientific American Frontiers

Scientific American Frontiers was an American television program primarily focused on informing the public about new technologies and discoveries in science and medicine. It was a companion program to the Scientific American magazine. The show was produced for PBS in the U.S...

in a long interview with host Alan Alda

Alan Alda

Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...

. In July 2007 he was awarded the Danone International Prize for Nutrition.

In 2009 Jeffrey M. Friedman was awarded the Shaw Prize

Shaw Prize

The Shaw Prize is an annual award first presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in 2004. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours living "individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or...

 and Keio Medical Science Prize

Keio Medical Science Prize

The Keio Medical Science Prize , is a distinguished Japanese prize in medical sciences.-Introduction:The prize is awarded to scientists who made significant contributions to the field of medical sciences or life sciences...

, in 2010 the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease...

 (both jointly with Douglas L. Coleman

Douglas L. Coleman

Douglas L. Coleman is a scientist at The Jackson Laboratory. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity....

) for their work leading to the discovery of leptin, a hormone that regulates food intake and body weight.