Endocrine Abstracts

Brian Walker, UK-. Abstract

Brian Walker is Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he is administrative head of a 60-strong multidisciplinary research group in the Centre for Cardiovascular Science.

He graduated in medicine in Edinburgh in 1986 and completed his clinical training in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Since 1996 he has practised as an honorary consultant in Diabetes & Endocrinology at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, recently transferring his activities to the Royal Infirmary following the opening of the Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the new Little France campus.

Brian’s research interest in cortisol and cardiovascular disease began in 1989 as an MRC Training Fellow, and developed as a Lecturer and British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellow. The focus of his group has been on translating findings in animal models into detailed mechanistic experiments in humans. He published the original studies elucidating the role of 11β-HSD type 1 as a therapeutic target in obesity and diabetes, and was influential in the studies linking activation of the HPA axis with low birthweight and adult cardiovascular risk factors.

Previous awards include the Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture from Diabetes UK, the ‘Hot Topic’ Plenary Lecture at the Nutrition Society, and the Society for Endocrinology Medal.