September 24, 2016 — The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is proud to announce that the 2016 Van Meter Award recipient is Robin P. Peeters, MD, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Head of the Thyroid Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Director of the Rotterdam Thyroid Center, which he founded in 2011. Dr. Peeters presents the Van Meter Award Lecture, titled “How to define optimal thyroid function?” at the ATA’s 86th Annual Meeting, on Saturday, September 24, 2016, in Denver, Colorado.
The Van Meter Award Lecture, established in 1930, recognizes outstanding contributions to research on the thyroid gland or related subjects. An honorarium and expenses are funded by support from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. A Van Meter endowment contribution in memory of Jacob (Jack) Robbins has been given by Jean Robbins.
Dr. Peeters is an internationally recognized expert in several areas of thyroidology. His principal research interests have focused on the role of thyroid hormone receptor alpha, the consequences of genetic variation in thyroid hormone pathway genes, as well as thyroid function and pregnancy. He has led research consortia that have identified novel genetic loci associated with thyroid function and with thyroid peroxidase antibodies. He was involved in the identification of one of the first patients with a mutation in the thyroid hormone receptor alpha, and subsequently published on her treatment. His work on re-defining the reference ranges of thyroid function during pregnancy has had major influence on current diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease during pregnancy.
After obtaining his medical degree from Erasmus University Medical School, Dr. Peeters received a stipend from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development to combine his clinical training as an internist with a doctoral research project under the supervision of Professor Theo Visser. The project focused on the metabolism of thyroid hormone in health and disease. Dr. Peeters completed a residency and fellowship in endocrinology at Erasmus Medical Center and a research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Forrest, Chief of the nuclear receptor biology section at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Peeters is a member of the educational board of the European Thyroid Association (ETA) and has served on the ETA Executive Committee as well as the Task Force for the Guideline on Subclinical Hypothyroidism. He is also the national representative for The Netherlands in the Iodine Global Network. Dr. Peeters serves on the International Guidelines Harmonization Group of Late Effects of Childhood Cancer, as the Working Group Chair for screening and follow-up of thyroid nodules and carcinoma after exposure to irradiation in childhood cancer survivors. His service to the ATA has included participation on three Task Forces: Guideline on Strategies to Perform Basic Thyroid Research; Guidelines for the Treatment of Hypothyroidism; and Guidelines for Thyroid Disease and Pregnancy.
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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 93rd anniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC).
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