David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Pharmacology, and Steven Kliewer, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, are among 14 leading endocrinologists selected to receive the Endocrine Society’s 2025 Laureate Awards. Established in 1944, these prestigious awards recognize the highest research and clinical care achievements in the endocrinology field.

Dr. Mangelsdorf and Dr. Kliewer are being honored with the Edwin B. Astwood Award for Outstanding Research in Basic Science for their groundbreaking discoveries in endocrine signaling through nuclear receptor research. Their breakthroughs include elucidating the key signaling pathways governing cholesterol, lipid, and bile acid homeostasis, identifying a conserved mechanism controlling the way in which animals react to nutritional stress, and characterizing the mechanism underlying parasitic nematode infections.

“It is always an honor to be recognized by colleagues for one’s work,” said Dr. Mangelsdorf, who is also a Professor of Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. “The Endocrine Society has been our home society since the very beginning of our careers, which makes this award particularly meaningful. This award is also the first time that Steve and I have been recognized together for the work from our joint laboratory.”

Work in the Mangelsdorf/Kliewer Lab has led to the creation of lifesaving drugs and expanded the understanding of metabolic pathways, physiological regulators, and potential therapeutic interventions.

“We are unique because, as scientific partners, we have a single laboratory,” Dr. Kliewer said. “The partnership is effective because two heads are better than one when it comes to generating ideas, evaluating experiments, and dividing the day-to-day operations of a lab. We share the same research philosophy – namely, to follow the science wherever it takes us, even if this means going way outside our core expertise. We’re always looking for the road not taken.”

The researchers look back over their body of work with appreciation.

“We are grateful for the resources and talented pool of scientists working with us that have allowed us to make new and interesting discoveries. We are also gratified that some of these discoveries have led to new disease treatments that are approved or currently being evaluated,” Dr. Mangelsdorf said.

And they look forward to their work ahead with anticipation for the possibilities of transformative clinical applications.

“We have two main projects in the lab that we are excited about. One is on the amethystic – anti-alcohol, sobering – properties of a hormone called FGF21, and the other is on a new way to treat nematode parasitism,” Dr. Kliewer said.

Drs. Mangelsdorf and Kliewer are both members of the National Academy of Sciences and of UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Endocrine Society’s 2025 Laureate Awards will be presented in July at its annual meeting in San Francisco.