Professor of Medicine, Director, Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes. University of Toronto

Dr. Bernard Zimnan is one of Canada's most distinguished clinician-scientists with exceptional achievements in Diabetes research and care. He has excelled as a physician researcher, educator, mentor and academic citizen. His most significant enduring initiative was his role in the NIH-directed Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and related follow-up studies, which established the importance of glycemic control in the preventing the complications of Type 1 Diabetes. As a translational scientist, he has been instrumental in a number of important multi-centre clinical trials of new anti-hyperglycemic oral medications and newer recombinant insulins in achieving glycemic control. In addition he has had a significant role in defining the diabetes epidemic in Canada's Aboriginal populations. His international status is evident in his role in developing guidelines in the treatment of Diabetes. Dr. Zinman's work has received many distinctions including medals, visiting professorships and named lectureships and was recently awarded Canada's highest recognition, the Governor General's Order of Canada.