The US physician and scientist Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerald I. Shulman has made a decisive contribution to our understanding of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes, thereby laying the foundations for new therapeutic approaches to type 2 diabetes. The German Diabetes Center (DDZ) is awarding him the Von Mering Gold Medal 2025 for his pioneering contributions to diabetes and metabolism research. Since 2016, this medal has been awarded by the DDZ’s Executive Board to outstanding individuals who have made a significant contribution to diabetes research and have been instrumental in supporting the DDZ.
“Jerry Shulman is a leading international expert in metabolic research and has made a significant contribution to deciphering the causes of insulin resistance at the molecular level,” emphasizes Prof. Michael Roden, Scientific Director and Spokesperson of the Board of the DDZ as well as Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at Düsseldorf University Hospital. “In addition, as a former member of our International Scientific Advisory Board, he has provided intensive support for the work of the DDZ over many years.”
Prof. Shulman studied medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit and completed his residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He then served as a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. In 1987, he moved to Yale University, where he is now George R. Cowgill Professor of Internal Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Co-Director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center.
Prof. Shulman researches why cells no longer respond adequately to insulin in type 2 diabetes. He is a pioneer in the use of non-invasive techniques to study glucose and fat metabolism in humans. Shulman has received numerous awards for his work, including the Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society, the Solomon Berson Award from the American Physiological Society, the Banting Medal for Lifetime Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association, and the Manpei Suzuki International Prize in Diabetes.
In honor of Prof. Shulman, one of the world’s leading researchers in the genetics of diabetes and obesity, Prof. Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine and Director of the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK, gave the traditional Von Mering Lecture entitled “Tales of three hormones: Leptin, insulin, and GDF15.”
The namesake: Josef von Mering
The physician Joseph von Mering (1849–1908) was born in Cologne and is considered one of the most important diabetes researchers. Together with Oskar Minkowski, he explained how the pancreas and metabolism are connected—which led to the discovery of the vital hormone insulin. The scientists Banting, Best & McLeod later made this usable for therapeutic purposes.