Dr. Thomas Morley

Dr. Thomas Morley’s path to medical school took root at his grandparents’ farm in France.

The Connecticut native found himself living there in 2004 after he became bored with his undergraduate business studies and dropped out.

Shortly before Dr. Morley arrived in France, his grandfather was diagnosed with colon cancer. Suddenly, their lives filled with doctors’ appointments, surgeries, and navigating the French medical system.

During his five-month stay, his grandfather was cured, and he survived another 10 years.

“That brought the medical field to my life,” Dr. Morley said. “Before then I had never considered it. I hadn’t been a very good student before, so I didn’t know if I would have what it takes to make it.”

Spoiler alert: He did.

In fact, Dr. Morley has been named the recipient of the 2018 Endocrine Society Medical Student Achievement Award, an honor bestowed upon a medical student who has done significant research in endocrinology.

He said he is excited and grateful for the honor. “I was especially happy because my friend, Dr. Jon Xia, won the same award last year, and I thought that was pretty cool,” he said.

The M.D./Ph.D. scholar in UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program works in the lab of Dr. Philipp Scherer, Director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research and Professor of Internal Medicine and Cell Biology.

“Thomas’ success in the lab and in the clinic is based on his relentless drive, his curiosity, and dedication to get to the bottom of the mechanistic basis of disease,” Dr. Scherer said. “He defines the physician-scientist!”

When Dr. Morley was evaluating labs to join, he said one meeting with Dr. Scherer clinched his decision to study and work at UT Southwestern.

“There was just an immediate connection with Philipp,” he said. “I liked the amount of freedom he gave his students, and I liked the way he approached science. That drove a lot of the excitement, because once you’re in the lab, there are just so many interesting projects to work on.”

In addition to Dr. Scherer, Dr. Morley also credits Drs. Rana Gupta and William Holland, both Assistant Professors of Internal Medicine, as sources of support at UT Southwestern.

Passionate about metabolism research, Dr. Morley has watched it become increasingly important in modern medicine. “Diabetes affects swaths of Americans, many of whom remain unaware of it, and this disease results in very high morbidity and mortality,” he said.

“What we work on is adipose tissue – fat cells,” he said. “This was a very underappreciated field for very many years. It’s viewed as something hideous, ugly, or negative because of its physical manifestations.”

But, he said, those who study adipose tissue view it as a very important metabolic endocrine structure.

“Fat secretes hormones, and it serves as a reservoir for circulating lipids and glucose,” Dr. Morley said. “It really is this dynamic tissue, and you don’t hear about it as much as the liver, heart, kidneys, or the lungs, but it’s a very important organ. So I think it’s cool that it’s now getting its day in the sun.”

This physician-scientist has an active extracurricular life as well: His hobbies include rock climbing and homebrewing.

He was introduced to the craft beer scene by a fellow lab student, who took him to the Dallas gastropub Meddlesome Moth. “He would not let me order a Bud Light,” Dr. Morley recalled. “He said I had to start trying these other beers.”

After developing a taste for craft beers, he thought he’d try his hand at making them.

“And it kind of blew up from there,” he said. His label – Lola Bear Brewing – even won the specialty category in the Deep Ellum Brewing Co.’s Labor of Love Homebrew Competition.

“We make mostly sour brews,” Dr. Morley said. “They’re fruity, tart beers, brewed with yeast and bacteria. There’s a lot of chemistry and science there, so I like that.”

Dr. Morley, whose hometown is Ridgefield, Connecticut, double majored in chemistry and molecular biology at the University of Connecticut. He and his wife live in Nashville, Tennessee. The next step in his professional life is to continue with metabolism research in the integrated internal medicine and research residency program at Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Scherer holds the Gifford O. Touchstone, Jr. and Randolph G. Touchstone Distinguished Chair in Diabetes Research.