EJE Rising Stars
The inaugural 2022 EJE Rising Star Award is presented to individuals selected by the EJE Editors as showing exceptional promise, achievement and trajectory in establishing themselves as independent leading clinical and translational endocrine researchers, with high potential to serve as future editors of EJE. The awards consists of membership of the EJE Rising Star Reviewer Board for two years, a dedicated mentorship programme for future editors of EJE and a travel bursary for attendance at ECE and the EJE Editorial Board meeting.
Here is a list of this year’s awardees.
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Avivit Cahn, MD Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel Avivit Cahn graduated from the Hebrew University and completed her residency and fellowship at the Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, where she is a practicing endocrinologist. Professor Cahn has led and participated in multiple clinical trials, including SAVOR-TIMI 53, and DECLARE-TIMI-58. She has led multiple sub-analyses of these studies including analysis of safety outcomes and outcomes in the elderly in the DECLARE-TIMI-58. Research interests include big data and digital health, monogenic diabetes and diabetic foot complications, and she has published extensively on these topics as well. She is currently the Head of the Israeli Diabetic Foot and Wound Healing Society. Professor Cahn has authored over 80 publications and book chapters, is a reviewer for multiple diabetes journals, and is on the editorial board of Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews. She has lectured at multiple forums and served on numerous advisory boards. |
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Sophie Bensing, MD PhD Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Sophie Bensing is a senior lecturer in endocrinology at Karolinska Institutet and a senior consultant in internal medicine and endocrinology at the Karolinska University Hospital. Her research interests are autoimmune endocrine disorders with focus on adrenal insufficiency. Sophie has experience from clinical, experimental and epidemiological studies. |
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Guido Di Dalmazi, MD, PhD Senior Assistant Professor, Unit of Endocrinology and Diabetes Prevention and Care, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, IRCCS AOU S Orsola, Bologna, Italy Dr Di Dalmazi's main research areas are the pathophysiology of adrenal diseases, including genetics aspects of tumorigenesis, steroidogenesis and hormone hypersecretion. He is author of 65 scientific publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with 29 publications as first/last author (H-index 21, source Scopus). Recently, he has received several awards for his research activity. Among them is the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENSAT) Award, 2014; the prestigious prize for the best adrenal research, the Bruno Allolio-Nebennieren-Preis, of the German Society of Endocrinology, in 2016; and the Young Investigator Award of the European Society of Endocrinology in 2020. During the last 4 years, he has been an invited speaker at more than 15 national and international conferences. In 2019, he received funding from the Italian Ministry of Health for a 3-year project on adrenocortical tumors and hypercortisolism (Call: Ricerca Finalizzata 2018, sezione C, Giovani Ricercatori, Change Promoting) and from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (Call: PRIN 2017). |
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Tim Korevaar, MD, PhD Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Tim Korevaar is a postdoctoral fellow in endocrinology, epidemiologist and internist obstetric medicine in training at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His key research interest is gestational endocrinology including thyroid disease in fertility and pregnancy. Dr Korevaar is the co-founder and coordinator of the Consortium on Thyroid and Pregnancy, the co-chair of the current ATA guidelines on Diagnosis and Management of Thyroid Disease During Pregnancy and the Postpartum. He has been awarded previously with the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences Early Career Award and the ESE Young Investigator Award and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. |
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Dan Niculescu, PhD C I Parhon National Institute of Endocrinology, Bucharest, Romania Dan Niculescu graduated from the School of Medicine at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania, and later joined the university's Department of Endocrinology at C I Parhon National Institute of Endocrinology in Bucharest. Dr Niculescu is a member of the European Society of Endocrinology. His research focus and clinical practice is in pituitary disorders, and also thyroid and bone metabolism. |
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Svenja Nölting, MD, PhD Comprehensive Cancer Center, University Hospital and University of Zurich, Switzerland Professor Svenja Nölting is Consultant, Assistant Professor for Endocrine Tumors, Research Group Leader with a special interest in personalised therapy of (Neuro)endocrine Tumors, and joint Leader of the Endocrine and Neuroendocrine Tumor Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich, at the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition, University Hospital of Zurich, USZ and University of Zurich, UZH. After she finished her medicine studies in 2008 and her doctoral thesis in 2009 at the LMU Munich, she started her training as Medical Doctor (MD) at the Medical Department II of the University Hospital of the LMU Munich. In 2010 she received a DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) research grant for investigating novel targeted drugs in malignant phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas in vitro and in vivo and held a post-doc position at Barts and the London School of Medicine (mentor Ashley Grossman), and at the NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (mentor Karel Pacak) from 2010–2012, and then continued her training as MD at the Medical Departments II and IV of the University Hospital of the LMU Munich, becoming Research Group Leader in 2012. In 2020 she was appointed Assistant Professor for Endocrine Tumors at the USZ and UZH: she has obtained funding of more than one million Euros in total and has a significant publication record of original research. |
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Cristina Olarescu, MD, PhD University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway Dr Olarescu works as an endocrinologist at Oslo University hospital and a translational researcher at University of Oslo in Norway. Her research focusses on the molecular characterisation of the pituitary adenomas and finding novel biomarkers to predict the aggressiveness and recurrence or response to medical treatment. In addition, she is interested in the role of adipose tissue on glucose metabolism and cardiovascular risk in different endocrine diseases. She was a board member of the young researcher committee (EYRC) of ENEA, between 2018 and 2022, and was very proud to receive the ESE Jens Sandahl Christiansen award in 2022. |
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Michael O'Reilly, MBChB, PhD Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland Michael O’Reilly is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Consultant Endocrinologist at the Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. His research is supported by a 4-year HRB Emerging Clinician Scientist Award, as well as the Wellcome Trust. Michael’s research focuses on the role of androgens in mediating metabolic dysfunction in women with PCOS, with a specific focus on the link between 11-oxygenated androgens and skeletal muscle energy metabolism. He has a clinical specialist interest in reproductive disorders, adrenal tumours and pituitary disease. He spent 8 years at the University of Birmingham from 2011 to 2019, completing his PhD funded by the Wellcome Trust in 2015 under the supervision of Wiebke Arlt, followed by a position as Clinician Scientist at the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (IMSR) from 2015 to 2019. |
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Nadia Schoenmakers, PhD University of Cambridge, UK Dr Nadia Schoenmakers is a Principal Investigator and Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow at NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. Nadia’s principal research interest lies in elucidating the genetic and environmental determinants of congenital hypothyroidism (CH), the commonest neonatal endocrine disorder, due either to failure of thyroid gland development (dysgenesis) or function (dyshormonogenesis). Central hypothyroidism, a rarer entity, is due to impaired thyrotropin (TSH) production by the pituitary gland. Nadia use candidate gene, gene panel and whole exome sequencing technologies to identify known and novel genetic causes of CH. She then undertakes phenotyping of genetically ascertained individuals with parallel molecular and murine studies, aiming to gain new insights into thyroid biology and associated extra-thyroidal phenotypes. |
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Roland Stimson, PhD University of Edinburgh, UK Roland Stimson undertook his PhD at the University of Edinburgh investigating the regulation and dysregulation of tissue glucocorticoid metabolism in human obesity in a number of integrative physiological studies. He continued his postdoctoral research and clinical training as a clinical lecturer, exploring the mechanisms of glucocorticoid action in adipose tissue. In 2013, he was awarded an MRC Clinical Scientist fellowship investigating the role of human brown adipose tissue and its regulation by glucocorticoids. In 2018, he was awarded a Scottish Senior Clinical Academic Fellowship investigating the pathways regulating human brown adipose tissue and wider cold-induced thermogenesis. He is currently Professor of Endocrinology and honorary consultant physician at the University of Edinburgh and his lab specialises in the use of human experimental medicine studies to investigate human (patho)physiology in obesity and metabolic disease. Their current focus is on dissecting the pathways regulating energy expenditure with the goal of identifying targets amenable to therapeutic manipulation. |
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Elena Valassi, MD, PhD International University of Catalonia, and Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona, Barcelona, Spain Elena Valassi is an Associate Professor of Endocrinology at the International University of Catalonia (UIC) and Consultant Endocrinologist at the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona (Barcelona, Spain). She is currently responsible for data quality and analysis of the European Registry of Cushing’s syndrome (ERCUSYN). After obtaining her medical degree and specialization in Endocrinology, she earned her PhD in Endocrinology and Metabolism from the University of Milan and completed her formation at the Reproductive Endocrine Unit and Neuroendocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. She received the 'Juan de la Cierva' postdoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and was recently awarded two Health Care Research Fund Grant (FIS) from the Health Institute Carlos III to investigate the pathogenesis of residual myopathy and arthropathy in patients with acromegaly and Cushing’s syndrome in remission. Her major research interests include long-term physical/psychological consequences and patient-centered outcomes in pituitary diseases, musculoskeletal complications associated with cortisol and growth hormone excess, medical therapy in Cushing’s syndrome and management of pregnancy in patients with pituitary adenomas. |
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Dimitra Vassiliadi, MD, PhD Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece Dimitra Vassiliadi currently works as a Consultant Endocrinologist in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes of Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece, a major National Expertise Centre for Rare Endocrine Diseases and part of the Endo-ERN in the areas of adrenal, pituitary, and thyroid disorders. She has long clinical experience in Cushing's Syndrome and her research interests focus on the clinical and pathophysiological aspects of adrenal and pituitary disorders, especially in relation to all forms of Cushing’s syndrome. An additional research interest relates to endocrine abnormalities in critical illness. She has authored 72 original papers and reviews in peer-reviewed journals. Dr Vassiliadi serves as a referee for several international journals, and is an active member of the European Society of Endocrinology, the Society for Endocrinology and the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENS@T). |
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Maria Yavropoulou, MD, MSc, PhD Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece Dr Maria Yavropoulou is a Senior Endocrinology Consultant at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Since October 2019, she has been the Deputy Head of the Center for Expertise of Rare Disorders of Calcium and Phosphate Metabolism (C.E.R.E.D) at LAIKO General Hospital of Athens, and Coordinator Quality of the Center for Expertise for Adult Langerhans Histiocytosis in the Hellenic Air Force and Veterans General Hospital of Athens. As a consultant she is actively involved in the management of all endocrine diseases in the Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic with emphasis on the rare endocrine diseases of calcium and phosphate metabolism. Her research activities focus on Bone Metabolism, Diabetes and Neuroendocrinology. |
