Dr. Constantin Polychronakos [1], Director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at the MCH, received the Career Scientist Award of Excellence 2008 from the Foundation of Stars in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of child health research.

Dr. Polychronakos has been a clinician scientist at the MCH since 1983, where he conducts an internationally-recognized research program concerned with understanding the complex genetic basis of diabetes. His efforts resulted in the recent discovery of seven new genes for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which led to two publications in the prestigious journal Nature.

One of these publications placed fifth worldwide in 2007 for citations among all scientific disciplines. Dr. Polychronkos is now addressing the next frontier, the discovery of rare genetics variants which will be used not only to detect high diabetes risk, but also to tailor interventions to the patient’s genetic profile to optimize treatment (personalized medicine).

The award was presented at the Foundation’s “Bal des merveilles” on October 9 at the Palais des congrès.