News — November 1, 2019—The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is pleased to announce that the 2019 Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Lectureship Award recipient will be Dr. Bryan R. Haugen, currently is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Colorado Denver. He is also Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes and Director of the Thyroid Tumor Program and holds the Mary Rossick Kern and Jerome H. Kern Chair in Endocrine Neoplasms Research which monitors and manages more than 3000 patients with thyroid cancer.

The Ingbar Award recognizes an established investigator who has made outstanding contributions to thyroid-related research over many years. The award honors the memory of Dr. Sidney H. Ingbar, a brilliant innovator who was once Chief of the Beth Israel Thyroid Unit as well as Chief of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The award is conferred at the ATA Annual Meeting, held this year from October 31 to November 3 in Chicago, Illinois. On Friday, November 1, at 1:30 pm, Dr. Haugen will deliver the Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Award Lecture, titled “Rational Combination Therapies in Advanced Thyroid Cancer.”

Dr. Haugen is recognized internationally as a leader and researcher in the field of thyroid cancer molecular mechanisms. Dr. Haugen’s research commitment is demonstrated by the substantial NIH independent funding he continues to receive. His publications describing detailed research and experimentation number in the hundreds, and he is welcomed as a speaker on his specialties at conferences, symposia, and universities around the world.  In clinical practice, Dr. Haugen has had a great interest in caring for patients with thyroid cancer and helping to find better treatments and management strategies for more than 20 years.

His current clinical interests include thyroid neoplasms, advanced thyroid cancer, thyroid dysfunction and other endocrine tumors (parathyroid, adrenal, carcinoid). Dr Haugen’s research interests include molecular studies of thyroid neoplasm diagnosis and pathophysiology as well as the study of molecular therapeutic targets. Dr Haugen led validation of a novel molecular test (Gene Expression Classifier called Afirma). His specific areas of research include nuclear hormone receptors (RXR, TR, PPAR) and kinase signaling pathways as therapeutic targets in thyroid cancer.

His research group is also actively studying the individual host-tumor interaction in thyroid cancer to develop novel tumor immunology tests and therapies.

Dr. Haugen received his MD from Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota. He then served his internship, residency in internal medicine, and both clinical and research fellowships in endocrinology, all at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

A notable contribution to the ATA and thyroid field was his chairmanship of the 2015 Thyroid Nodule and Thyroid Cancer ATA Guidelines. Dr. Haugen has served in multiple leadership positions in the ATA over many years, as co-chair of the Annual Meeting Program committee, as a fundraiser for the E. Chester Ridgway Legacy Fund in support of the Ridgway Trainee Conference.  He has trained numerous postdoctoral candidates from around the country and the world, thereby extending his impact on the future of thyroid research and clinical practice.  Since joining the ATA in 1994, his commitment has set a high bar. He served as ATA president in 2012-2013, and received its Paul Starr award in 2012.

His model of service extends to many other professional organizations, contributed significantly to committees at the university, state, national, and international levels, and served on the editorial boards, or as an editor or reviewer, for a dozen journals. Other honors include recognition as one of the Best Doctors in America from 2006 through 2014, the Farahe Maloof Lectureship at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2012, and the Clinical Innovation Award from the University of Colorado Hospital in 2015.

Dr. Haugen’s outstanding clinical and translational research accomplishments in thyroid disease and cancer over the past two decades make him a worthy recipient for this prestigious award.

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The American Thyroid Association® (ATA) is dedicated to transforming thyroid care through clinical excellence, education, scientific discovery and advocacy in a collaborative community. ATA® is an international professional medical society with over 1,700 members from 70 countries around the world. Celebrating its 96th anniversary, the ATA® delivers its mission — transforming thyroid care through clinical excellence, education, scientific discovery and advocacy in a collaborative community — through several key endeavors:
·      The publication of the highly regarded professional journals Thyroid®, Clinical Thyroidology®, and VideoEndocrinology
·      Annual scientific meetings
·      Biennial clinical and research symposia
·      Research grant programs for young investigators
·      Support of online professional, public, and patient educational programs
·      Development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer

The ATA® promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology® for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 12,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA® website serves as a bonafide clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet.