C. Ronald Kahn, M.D. received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Louisville.  After training in internal medicine at Washington University, he moved to the National Institutes of Health where he rose to become the Head of the Section on Cellular and Molecular Physiology of NIDDK.  In 1981, he moved to Boston to become Research Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center. In 1984 he became Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and in 1986 the Mary K. Iacocca Professor.  From 2000-2007, Kahn served as President and Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center.  Under his leadership, Joslin research grew more than 20-fold, clinical and educational activity have tripled, and new programs were launched in a variety of areas, including new national business alliances.

Dr. Kahn is the preeminent investigator of insulin signal transduction and mechanisms of altered signaling in disease.  His laboratory has produced multiple seminal observations regarding the insulin receptor kinase, its substrates, the molecular components of the insulin signaling network, and their alterations in disease that have revolutionized the field. 

Dr. Kahn has received numerous honors and awards, including the highest scientific awards of the American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, British Diabetes and British Endocrine Societies, International Diabetes Federation, American Federation of Clinical Research, and the Endocrine Society, as well as the Hamdan Award for Medical Research, the Rolf Luft Award of the Karolinska University, the Lawson Wilkins Award of the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Beering Award of Indiana University, and the Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine.  Dr. Kahn has served on many national commissions and advisory boards, including as chairman of the Congressionally-established Diabetes Research Working Group. Dr. Kahn has also served as President of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and on the Editorial Boards of multiple journals.  In 1999, Dr. Kahn was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine for his distinguished achievements in original research.  Dr. Kahn also holds honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Paris, University of Louisville and University of Geneva and is an honorary Professor at Peking University School of Medicine.