Cushing’s Disease Expert Receives Endocrine Society’s Laureate Award

The Endocrine Society has selected 13 leaders in the endocrinology field as winners of its prestigious 2019 Laureate Awards. Among the recipients is James W. Findling, MD, an expert in Cushing’s disease.

Each recipient will be presented with the award at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society’s 101st Annual Meeting & Expo, March 23-26, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Findling, MD, who is director of Community Endocrinology Services and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, is the winner of the 2019 Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award.

Established in 2012, this award recognizes outstanding contributions to the medical community by a practicing endocrinologist who spends more than 75 percent of his or her time in a non-academic clinical endocrinology practice.

Findling is a international expert on Cushing’s disease; as such, he often is recommended to consult on challenging cases. He developed the inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS).

The most common cause of Cushing’s disease is pituitary adenoma — a benign tumor in the pituitary gland, found behind the nose and near the underside of the brain — which leads to overproduction of  hormone ACTH.

IPSS is an invasive procedure, used when imaging alone is insufficient to confirm the presence of a hormonally active pituitary tumor, in which ACTH levels are sampled from the veins that drain the pituitary gland. The method helps determine if the tumor is responsible for ACTH-dependent Cushing’s disease.

Findling also defended the use of late-night salivary cortisol as a simple and convenient biomarker for assessing treatment response in patients with Cushing’s disease. Because of his research, the screening method is now part of Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guideline.

Findling also is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

The Endocrine Society has been recognizing the praiseworthy accomplishments of endocrinologists worldwide for 74 years. These awards honor endocrinologists for their important research, commendable service, leadership and mentorship, innovation, international contributions, public service, translation of science to practice, and lifetime achievement.

Other Endocrine Society’s 2019 Laureate Award winners include:

• Edward M. Brown, MD – Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award;
• Helen H. Hobbs, MD – Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research;
• Ana Claudia Latronico, MD, PhD – International Excellence in Endocrinology Award;
• Wiebke Arlt, MD, DSc, FRCP, FMedSci. – Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award;
• Kenneth D. Burman, MD – Outstanding Educator Award;
• John J. Kopchick, MS, PhD – Outstanding Innovation Award;
• William F. Young, Jr., MD, MSc – Outstanding Leadership in Endocrinology Award;
• Dolores J. Lamb, PhD, HCLD – Outstanding Mentor Award;
• Ian D. Hay, MD, PhD – Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award;
• Patrick Seale, PhD – Richard E. Weitzman Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award;
• Cheryl Lyn Walker, PhD – Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research;
• and Carole R. Mendelson, PhD – Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Service Award.