The European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of
Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO) and the International
Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) have announced that Professor Gerard
Karsenty of the Columbia University Medical Center is to be awarded
the first Herbert A. Fleisch ESCEO-IOF Medal. Herbert Fleisch was a
renowned researcher whose groundbreaking work contributed to the
development of the field of scientific knowledge about metabolic
bone diseases and their treatment.

The newly created award, valued at 20,000 Euro, recognizes a
researcher who has made outstanding and groundbreaking achievements
in basic bone science. The Medal will be presented on March 23rd at
an award ceremony to take place at the opening of the European Congress on Osteoporosis
& Osteoarthritis (ECCEO11-IOF), in Valencia, Spain.

Gerard Karsenty M.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair, Department of
Genetics &

Development, at the Columbia University Medical Center, New York.
Professor

Karsenty is renowned for his many fundamental contributions to
understanding

skeletal development and skeletal physiology. His laboratory has
been instrumental in identifying Runx2 as the master gene of
osteoblast differentiation and in deciphering the entire genetic
cascade of osteoblast differentiation. He has contributed to the
molecular elucidation of bone mineralization and has made
significant advances in the study of bone physiology, based on the
hypothesis he proposed that there must be a common control of bone
mass, energy metabolism and reproduction. Testing this hypothesis
revealed the existence of a central control of bone mass, a
function regulated by leptin, a hormone appearing during evolution
with bone cells and that inhibits both appetite and bone mass
accrual. His laboratory then showed that bone is itself an
endocrine organ producing an hormone, osteocalcin, that favors
glucose homeostasis and male reproduction. Lastly Dr.
Karsenty¹s lab has shown that gut-derived serotonin is a
powerful inhibitor of bone formation.

“Gerard Karsenty has been one of the most creative minds in
the bone field, making exciting new findings that have furthered
our understanding of skeletal physiology and the mechanisms of bone
formation, said Professor Jean-Yves Reginster, President of
ESCEO.

IOF President John Kanis went on to state, “This award, named
in honour of a pioneer in osteoporosis research, appropriately
recognizes an individual whose work has considerably influenced
knowledge about bone and mineral metabolism.”

Professor Karsenty has received a number of honours and awards,
including the Lee C. Howley Prize for Arthritis Research in 2008.
He is the Chair of the upcoming 1st
IOF-ESCEO Pre-Clinical Symposium, to be held in Valencia from
March 22-23, 2011.