Speaker: David E. Cummings
Treatments for obesity and diabetes have recently been revolutionized by the development of medications that mimic the hormone GLP-1. Dr. Cummings will discuss the science behind these drugs, the increasingly broad array of benefits they are being demonstrated to confer, and some thorny public policy issues they raise.
Bio:
David E. Cummings, MD, FASMBS is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington, based at the UW Medicine Diabetes Institute and the V.A. Puget Sound Health Care System, where he is the founding Director of the Weight Management Clinic and Program. He studies the endocrine regulation of appetite, body weight, and glucose homeostasis. His current research seeks to elucidate hormonal/metabolic mechanisms mediating the effects of metabolic/bariatric surgery on diabetes and body weight, determine the role of surgery in diabetes care through randomized clinical trials, clarify the proper use of obesity management mediations in conjunction with metabolic surgery, and define physiologic functions of the orexigenic hormone ghrelin. Dr. Cummings graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, receiving Highest Distinction in his major of Biochemistry. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers – the highest award conferred by the U.S. government to researchers in their early independent careers. It was given at the White House by the President and included seven years of additional research funding. Dr. Cummings has also received the 1996 Ethan Simms Young Investigator Award from The Obesity Society, the 2001 Philip J. Fialkow Scholar Award from the University of Washington, the 2006 Outstanding Investigator Award from the Western Society for Clinical Investigation, honorary membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation since 2006, the Endocrine Society’s 2009 Pfizer International Award, a 2010 honorary Pfizer Visiting Professorship, the 2016 Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award from the American Diabetes Association, in 2017 an Honorary Lifetime Fellow appointment from the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (the first non-surgeon ever to receive this), an honorary professorship awarded in 2017 from Sri Aurobindo Medical College & Postgraduate Institute in India, the 2018 Spitzer Award from Louisiana State University, in 2022 an honorary lifetime membership to the Philippine Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, and the IFSO Asia Pacific International Award in 2025. Dr. Cummings and his research have been widely featured in the media, including on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, NPR, BBC, and many others. He has presented his work to the U.S. Congress, at universities throughout the world, and to the Nobel Committee in Medicine and Physiology on two separate occasions at Nobel Symposia in Stockholm.