Dr. Daniel Drucker, a senior investigator at Sinai Health's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), has been recognized as one of the most influential people in the world by TIME in their annual list. His groundbreaking contributions have not only transformed our understanding of diabetes but also impacted millions of lives worldwide.
Early in his career, Dr. Drucker helped to discover how certain hormones, called glucagon-like peptides, help stimulate insulin to lower blood sugar. His work prompted a batch of new drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, thus helping millions of patients around the world.
These drugs - including Ozempic - are also being used for treating obesity, and potentially could work for diseases of the heart and brain, including Alzheimer’s, MS and Parkinson’s.
His revolutionary work has received some of the world’s most prestigious awards in life sciences, most recently the 2023 VinFuture Emerging Innovation Prize and the 2023 Wolf Prize in Medicine. He also received the 2021 Canada Gairdner International Award and the Order of Canada, among others.
It's fitting that Dr. Drucker has called Sinai his home for nearly two decades. Toronto, the birthplace of insulin, has been the epicentre for global diabetes research for nearly 100 years, and Sinai Health itself has been at the forefront of transformational advances in diabetes research and care for decades.
Currently, Dr. Drucker’s lab at the LTRI focuses on understanding the molecular biology and physiology of glucagon-like peptides, using it as a key building block for better therapies.
"Being recognized by TIME is a tremendous honour," says Dr. Drucker. "But my biggest privilege has been to work with a team and see the basic science not just be published in papers and win awards and help us better understand the science, but actually be used in patients, to provide better treatments. To me that is magic."
Don't miss Dr. Drucker's full feature in TIME and join us in celebrating his remarkable achievements!
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