Jeffrey Scott Flier

Jeffrey Scott Flier
21st Dean of the Harvard Medical School
Incumbent
Assumed office September 1, 2007
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.

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. 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.

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. During his first year as dean, he led an extensive strategic planning process, releasing a report in October 2008. 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. Notably Flier penned an op-ed as Dean of Harvard Medical School opposing expansion of health insurance in the United States.

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. This discovery elucidated a rare cause of diabetes, advanced the field of membrane receptor biology and provided an important tool for research on insulin action. 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. Much of his research has addressed the pathophysiology of obesity. Among his work has been the discovery with Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, of altered production of adipocyte secreted factors in obesity; investigations into the function of brown adipose tissue through creation of a brown fat deficient transgenic mouse; elucidation of the role of the neuropeptide MCH in energy balance by making an MCH knockout mouse (with his wife, Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, MD); identification of the capacity of adult hypothalamic neurogenesis to occur and influence energy balance; and work with Maratos-Flier to define the role of FGF21 in metabolic regulation. 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, and has provided evidence for the molecular mechanism of leptin resistance that characterizes and contributes to obesity.

Personal life

Flier is married to Eleftheria Maratos-Flier. She is an endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the two have collaborated in several areas of research. 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. 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.

Honors/affiliations/awards

• Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• American Society for Clinical Investigation
• Association of American Physicians
• Eli Lilly Award, American Diabetes Association
• Banting Medal, American Diabetes Association
• Solomon Berson Lecture, American Physiological Society
• Albert Renold Award, American Diabetes Association
• Astwood Lecture, Endocrine Society
• Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Athens
• Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, University of Edinburgh
• Advisory Council, National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH

Selected works

Biomedical Research

Policy

Notes

See also: Harvard Medical School, Mount Sinai School of Medicine § Notable alumni and faculty, Gairdner Foundation § Medical Advisory Board, List of City College of New York people § Science and technology, List of Bronx High School of Science alumni § Academia, and Bronx High School of Science § Other notable alumni and former students

External links

• Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
• Harvard Medical School
• Harvard University
• Dr. Flier's Welcome Address to the Class of 2011