Jeffrey Scott Flier

Jeffrey Scott Flier
21st Dean of the Harvard Medical School
In office
September 1, 2007 – July 31, 2016
Personal details
Born (1948-02-27) February 27, 1948
New York, New York
Spouse(s) Eleftheria Maratos-Flier
Children Sarah Flier and Lydia Flier
Website Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Jeffrey Scott Flier (born February 27, 1948) is an American physician, endocrinologist, researcher, and the 21st Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University.[1]

Early life and career

Flier was born in New York City, and grew up in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. He is the son of Milton R. Flier, a World War II C-47 pilot and businessperson, and Dorothy Flier, who taught junior high school mathematics. He graduated in 1964 from the Bronx High School of Science, and 1968 from the City College of New York. He was in the first entering class of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1968, and graduated in 1972 with the Elster Prize for highest academic standing.[1] After two years of internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, he spent four years in the Public Health Service as a clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health, completing training in endocrinology and launching a research career. He moved to Boston in 1978, becoming an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chief of the Diabetes Unit at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Hospital. He subsequently became chief of the hospital's Endocrinology Division, vice chair for research of the Department of Medicine, and eventually the hospital's chief academic officer in 2002, overseeing research and educational affairs. At HMS, he became the George C. Reisman Professor of Medicine, and Harvard faculty dean for Academic Affairs at what became the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.[2]

Appointment as Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Medicine

Flier was appointed dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the Caroline Shields Walker professor of medicine at Harvard in July 2007 by President Drew Faust and assumed the position on September 1, 2007.[2] During his first year as dean, he led an extensive strategic planning process, releasing a report in October 2008.[3] Harvard University and Harvard Medical School suffered financial losses when markets fell in 2008-9. This slowed but did not stop investments in several areas.[4] Notably Flier penned an op-ed as Dean of Harvard Medical School opposing expansion of health insurance in the United States.[5] His term as dean of Harvard Medical School ended in 2016 after nine years. [6]

Research contributions

Flier has contributed to many areas in metabolism research over 35 years at NIH and Harvard. While at the Diabetes Branch of NIH, under the mentorship of Jesse Roth, MD, FACP, Philip Gorden, MD, and C. Ronald Kahn, MD, he discovered the existence of autoantibodies to the insulin receptor as a cause of severe insulin resistance.[7] This discovery elucidated a rare cause of diabetes,[8] advanced the field of membrane receptor biology and provided an important tool for research on insulin action. [9] Flier also played a major role in defining genetic causes of insulin resistance by identifying and characterizing mutations in the insulin receptor gene in a subset of patients with severe insulin resistance.[10][11] Much of his research has addressed the pathophysiology of obesity.[12][13][14] Among his work has been the discovery with Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, of altered production of adipocyte secreted factors in obesity;[15] investigations into the function of brown adipose tissue through creation of a brown fat deficient transgenic mouse;[16] elucidation of the role of the neuropeptide MCH in energy balance by making an MCH knockout mouse (with his wife, Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, MD);[17] identification of the capacity of adult hypothalamic neurogenesis to occur and influence energy balance;[18] and work with Maratos-Flier to define the role of FGF21 in metabolic regulation.[19] His most extensive work has related to the biology and pathophysiology of leptin. His lab has defined the role of leptin as a key molecule in the physiology of starvation,[20] and has provided evidence for the molecular mechanism of leptin resistance that characterizes and contributes to obesity.[21]

Personal life

Flier is married to Eleftheria Maratos-Flier. She is an endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,[22] and the two have collaborated in several areas of research.[17][12][14] They have two daughters. Sarah Flier, MD, is a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.[23] Lydia Flier is a third year student at Harvard Medical School. His brother Steven Flier, MD, is a Harvard-affiliated internist practicing in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.[24]

Honors/affiliations/awards

Selected works

Biomedical Research
Policy

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 An opponent to healthcare for all. "Jeffrey S. Flier, MD, Dean of Harvard Medical School".
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Jeffrey S. Flier named next dean of Faculty of Medicine". Harvard Gazette. 11 July 2007.
  3. ↑ "Strategic Planning at Harvard Medical School" (PDF). October 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Dean's Report 2008-2009" (PDF). 2008.
  5. ↑ Flier, Jeffrey. "Health 'Reform' Gets a Failing Grade". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  6. ↑ Flier, Jeffrey. "New Dean for Faculty of Medicine". Harvard Medical School. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Flier, JS; Kahn, CR; Roth, J; Bar, RS (1975). "Antibodies that impair insulin receptor binding in an unusual diabetic syndrome with severe insulin resistance". Science. 190 (4209): 63–5. doi:10.1126/science.170678. PMID 170678.
  8. ↑ Kahn, CR; Kasuga, M; King, GL; Grunfeld, C (1982). "Autoantibodies to insulin receptors in man: immunological determinants and mechanism of action". Ciba Foundation symposium (90): 91–113. PMID 6183063.
  9. ↑ Kahn, CR; Baird, KL; Jarrett, DB; Flier, JS (1978). "Direct demonstration that receptor crosslinking or aggregation is important in insulin action". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 75 (9): 4209–13. doi:10.1073/pnas.75.9.4209. PMC 336081Freely accessible. PMID 279910.
  10. ↑ Moller, DE; Flier, JS (1988). "Detection of an alteration in the insulin-receptor gene in a patient with insulin resistance, acanthosis nigricans, and the polycystic ovary syndrome (type a insulin resistance)". The New England Journal of Medicine. 319 (23): 1526–9. doi:10.1056/NEJM198812083192306. PMID 2460770.
  11. ↑ Moller, DE; Yokota, A; White, MF; Pazianos, AG; Flier, JS (1990). "A naturally occurring mutation of insulin receptor alanine 1134 impairs tyrosine kinase function and is associated with dominantly inherited insulin resistance". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 265 (25): 14979–85. PMID 2168397.
  12. 1 2 Flier JS, Maratos-Flier E (1990). "Biology of Obesity". Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine.
  13. ↑ Flier, JS (2004). "Obesity wars: molecular progress confronts an expanding epidemic". Cell. 116 (2): 337–50. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)01081-X. PMID 14744442.
  14. 1 2 Flier JS, Maratos-Flier E (September 2007). "What fuels fat". Scientific American.
  15. ↑ Flier, JS; Cook, KS; Usher, P; Spiegelman, BM (1987). "Severely impaired adipsin expression in genetic and acquired obesity". Science. 237 (4813): 405–8. doi:10.1126/science.3299706. PMID 3299706.
  16. ↑ Lowell, BB; S-Susulic, V; Hamann, A; Lawitts, JA; Himms-Hagen, J; Boyer, BB; Kozak, LP; Flier, JS (1993). "Development of obesity in transgenic mice after genetic ablation of brown adipose tissue". Nature. 366 (6457): 740–2. doi:10.1038/366740a0. PMID 8264795.
  17. 1 2 Shimada, M; Tritos, NA; Lowell, BB; Flier, JS; Maratos-Flier, E (1998). "Mice lacking melanin-concentrating hormone are hypophagic and lean". Nature. 396 (6712): 670–4. doi:10.1038/25341. PMID 9872314.
  18. ↑ Kokoeva, MV; Yin, H; Flier, JS (2005). "Neurogenesis in the hypothalamus of adult mice: potential role in energy balance". Science. 310 (5748): 679–83. doi:10.1126/science.1115360. PMID 16254185.
  19. ↑ Badman, MK; Pissios, P; Kennedy, AR; Koukos, G; Flier, JS; Maratos-Flier, E (2007). "Hepatic fibroblast growth factor 21 is regulated by PPARalpha and is a key mediator of hepatic lipid metabolism in ketotic states". Cell Metabolism. 5 (6): 426–37. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2007.05.002. PMID 17550778.
  20. ↑ Ahima, RS; Prabakaran, D; Mantzoros, C; Qu, D; Lowell, B; Maratos-Flier, E; Flier, JS (1996). "Role of leptin in the neuroendocrine response to fasting". Nature. 382 (6588): 250–2. doi:10.1038/382250a0. PMID 8717038.
  21. ↑ Howard, JK; Cave, BJ; Oksanen, LJ; Tzameli, I; Bjørbaek, C; Flier, JS (2004). "Enhanced leptin sensitivity and attenuation of diet-induced obesity in mice with haploinsufficiency of Socs3". Nature Medicine. 10 (7): 734–8. doi:10.1038/nm1072. PMID 15220914.
  22. ↑ "Flier and Maratos-Flier Research Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center".
  23. ↑ "Sarah Flier, MD, Joins BIDMC". 1 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  24. ↑ "Brigham and Women's Alumni in Academia". 1 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  25. ↑ "Jeffrey S. Flier, MD, Receives American Diabetes Association's Distinguished Research Award" (PDF). 9 June 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  26. ↑ "Graduation Ceremony, McEwan Hall: Honorary Graduate: Jeffrey S. Flier". 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  27. ↑ "NIDDK Welcomes Five New Members to Advisory Council". 11 March 2005. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
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