Profesor, University of Toronto

Dr. Gary Lewis completed his medical training in 1982 at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, followed by specialty training in Internal Medicine and then Endocrinology at the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of the Toronto General Hospital in 1990, was appointed Head of the Division of Endocrinology at University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospitals in 2001, Director of the University of Toronto Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2008 and Director of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, U of T, in 2011. He is a Full Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of Toronto and he holds the Drucker Family Chair in Diabetes Research. One of the factors responsible for the very high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in people who have Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes is an abnormality of their blood fats and cholesterol. Dr. Lewis' research attempts to understand the mechanism of the blood fat abnormalities in diabetes and the mechanism of pancreatic failure that leads to diabetes. He and his colleagues have made a number of important discoveries and have contributed to the general understanding of this phenomenon. Dr. Lewis has been awarded and honoured by several organizations. He has been the recipient of a Canada Research Chair in Diabetes, research Scholarships and Career Investigator Awards from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the William Goldie Research Award from the Dept of Medicine, University of Toronto, the Canadian Diabetes Association Young Scientist Award, the Physician Scientist lectureship and the Senior Scientist Award from the Canadian Lipoprotein Conference, and has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has been invited to present his research findings at a number of universities around the world and at prestigious international meetings.