Joel Elmquist, D.V.M., Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Internal Medicine, has been named recipient of the 2027 Solomon A. Berson Distinguished Lectureship from the American Physiological Society (APS) Endocrinology & Metabolism Section.

The award is presented annually to an investigator who has made major contributions in endocrinology and metabolism. It recognizes Dr. Elmquist’s influential work in understanding the neural and hormonal mechanisms that regulate body weight, appetite, energy balance, and metabolism.

“This recognition is a great honor,” said Dr. Elmquist, also Director of the Center for Hypothalamic Research and Professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry.

As the recipient, he will deliver the Solomon A. Berson Award Lecture at the 2027 American Physiology Summit in Denver in April.

Dr. Elmquist studies how the brain – particularly the hypothalamus – regulates energy balance, body weight, glucose metabolism, and the body’s response to exercise. Using advanced genetic and neurobiological tools, his research has identified key neural circuits and hormones, including leptin and melanocortin pathways, that link the central nervous system to obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease.

He joined the UTSW faculty in 2006 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year.

Dr. Elmquist’s selection marks the second consecutive year a UT Southwestern investigator has received the APS honor. Philipp Scherer, Ph.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Cell Biology and Director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research, received the award in 2026, underscoring UTSW’s leadership in metabolism, obesity, diabetes, and endocrine research. The inaugural recipient, in 1994, was the late Jean Wilson, M.D., the first Director of UT Southwestern’s Perot Family Scholars Medical Scientist Training Program.