Barbara Kahn, MD is the George R. Minot Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Vice-Chair for Research Strategy in the Dept. of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and a Senior Associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Dr. Kahn received her MD from Stanford University and an MS in Health Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley. She did a General Medicine Fellowship at the University of Calif. Davis and an Endocrine Fellowship at NIH. She was Chief of the Diabetes Unit and subsequently, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at BIDMC during which time she expanded the research and clinical programs of the Division. Dr. Kahn is a world renowned scientist whose work has elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying obesity and type 2 diabetes. Her discoveries have had a major impact on understanding the role of the adipose cell as an endocrine organ that regulates systemic insulin sensitivity and diabetes risk. Her lab also demonstrated that AMP-activated-protein-kinase regulates neural and peripheral circuits controlling adiposity and fuel homeostasis. Most recently, Dr. Kahn’s lab, with Alan Saghatelian, discovered a novel class of lipids with anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. Dr. Kahn has received many awards including the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award and the Mosenthal Award from ADA; the Jacobaeus Prize from the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Karolinska Institute; the Charles Best Award from University of Toronto; and the Gerald Aurbach Award from Endocrine Society. In 2016, she will be receiving the Award Lectureship from the Journal of Lipid Research and the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement which is the highest scientific achievement award bestowed by the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Kahn is an elected member of the ASCI, AAP, and National Academy of Medicine, and a Fellow of the AAAS.