Conferences & Lectures

Weekly Conferences

Clinical Conference

The weekly clinical conference covers topics of interest in endocrinology. Speakers include faculty from the division, fellowship trainees, and guest speakers. Clinical cases are often used as a springboard for discussions of endocrine disorders, including patient care issues and reviews of the current research. Once a month, the conference is run by the Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes (MEND) Consult team and is devoted to reviewing the interesting patients seen on the Consult Service.

Research Conference

The weekly research conference covers a wide range of topics in molecular and cellular research, organ physiology, and clinical research. Speakers include the division faculty and staff, Michigan Medicine researchers performing endocrinology-related work, and invited outside speakers.

Memorial Lectures

Stefan S. Fajans Lecture in Diabetes

14th Annual Stefan S. Fajans Lecture in Diabetes

Date: June 9, 2023
Time: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Brehm Tower, 5th floor, CURE Rm #5050 (with reception to immediately follow)

Guest Speaker:
Maureen Gannon, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Vanderbilt University

Lecture Title: "Intersection of Prostaglandin E2 and GLP-1 Signaling Pathways to Promote Beta Cell Identity, Proliferation, and Survival"

Stefan S. Fajans, MD
Stefan S. Fajans, MD

This annual lecture is in honor of Stefan S. Fajans, MD and recognizes a renowned diabetes investigator and/or physician who has made significant contributions to the field.

Dr. Fajans was active professor emeritus of the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, and was recognized nationally and internationally as a distinguished endocrinologist and leader in the study and treatment of diabetes. He worked at the U-M Hospital from 1946 until shortly before his death. He rose to the rank of Chief of the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, and was founding director of the NIH-funded Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center for many years, before becoming active professor emeritus in 1988.

Dr. Fajans' pioneering research included the demonstration of the involvement of amino acids and proteins on insulin secretion. He made novel contributions to the knowledge that diabetes was not a single disease, but consisted of several subtypes with different causes.

He was the first to describe a subtype of type 2 diabetes, Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY). Dr. Fajans co-published the first paper to describe a genetic marker of MODY and the gene itself. From the time of his official retirement, he continued an active research program on MODY. In the last few years before his death, he published five articles in scientific journals on various aspects of diabetes.

Dr. Stefan S. Fajans Biography

Recent Speakers

  • 2021-2022: Rochelle Naylor, MD, The University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center. ""Leveraging Insights from the Monogenic Diabetes Registry to Advance Diabetes Precision Medicine"
  • 2020-2021: Alan Attie, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Systems Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes”
  • 2019-2020: Lori Sussel, PhD, University of Colorado. "Long Non-Coding RNAs As Mediators of Islet Function"

John C. Floyd, Jr. Memorial Fellows Lecture in Endocrinology

16th Annual John C. Floyd, Jr. Memorial Fellows Lecture in Endocrinology

Date: June 2, 2023
Time:  3:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Brehm Tower, 5th floor, CURE Rm #5050 (with reception to immediately follow)

Guest Speaker:
Mary Elizabeth Patti, MD
Investigator and Adult Endocrinologist, Joslin Diabetes Center
Director, Hypoglycemia Clinic; Co-Director of the Joslin DRC Molecular Phenotyping and Genotyping Core
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Lecture Title: "The Roller Coaster of Post-Bariatric Hypoglycemia: Lessons Learned About Intestinal Control of Glucose Homeostasis"

John C. Floyd, MD
John C. Floyd, MD

The John C. Floyd, Jr. Memorial Fellows Lecture in Endocrinology is named in honor of John C. Floyd, Jr., late Professor Emeritus of Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism and co-founder/former associate director of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center.

An endocrinologist and specialist in diabetes mellitus, John C. Floyd, Jr., MD, was known for his expertise in and dedication to scientific research, medical education, and patient care. Over a career of more than 30 years, his work demonstrated the importance of integrating all of these areas of medical endeavor in establishing patient-centered, innovative care for the specific needs of the diabetic patient. He served on the faculty of the University of Michigan’s Department of Internal Medicine, in the division of Endocrinology & Metabolism (E&M), from 1961 until his retirement 1992 at which time he was appointed Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Floyd was born in Olla, Louisiana, and raised in Baton Rouge. He graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1949 with a BS in chemistry and went on to the California Institute of Technology for graduate studies. However, after a few months, he decided that medicine, which combined his love of science with his interest in people, might be a more fulfilling career than chemistry. Returning to Louisiana, he enrolled at the LSU School of Medicine and received his medical degree in 1954.

Upon graduation from LSU, Dr. Floyd completed his internship, residency, and further postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan’s Division of Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine. It was as an intern in 1955, during his surgical rotation, that he was by chance assigned to observe what proved to be a ground-breaking operation. Based upon extensive metabolic studies, Dr. Jerome Conn, Chief of the E&M division, and his colleagues had hypothesize that the patient’s disease was caused by over-production of an adrenal hormone, a previously undescribed condition Dr. Conn termed “primary aldosteronism”, and surgical removal of both adrenal glands was planned. However, to what has been described as “the immense delight” of Dr. Conn and other observers in the operating room, the surgeon found a benign tumor on one adrenal. The tumor was removed, the patient’s symptoms subsequently abated and this linking of an adrenal tumor to primary aldosteronism led to new treatments for that condition. It was this early experience that piqued Dr. Floyd’s interest in the field of endocrinology.

In 1959, having completed his post-graduate training at Michigan, Dr. Floyd accepted an appointment at LSU as Instructor of Internal Medicine. However, his intense interest in clinical research led him to pursue returning to the University of Michigan. Then E&M faculty member Dr. Stefan Fajans (presently MEND Professor Emeritus) recalls receiving the phone call from Dr. Floyd: “He called me one evening and asked whether there might be a place for him in our Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, and indeed there was for someone of John’s caliber.” Dr. Floyd returned to Michigan as a Fellow in the E&M division in 1960 and was appointed to the medical faculty the following year. It was during this time that he began to focus his attention on diabetes-related research and the treatment and care of diabetic patients; these interests were to become his life-long work.

Dr. Floyd passed away in 2006. In 2007, the John C. Floyd, Jr., Memorial Fellows Lecture was established by the MEND faculty, with the support of his wife of 54 years, Esther Martin Floyd. Each year, the speaker for the lecture is chosen by the MEND Fellows, who also issue the invitation, schedule and coordinate the visit, and select one of their members to introduce the speaker. The Floyd lecture thus honors Dr. Floyd’s commitment to post-graduate medical education and recognizes his outstanding dedication, contribution, and service in the field of endocrinology at the University of Michigan.

Dr. John C. Floyd, Jr. Biography

Recent Speakers

  • 2021-2022: Sherri-Anne Burnett-Bowie, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School. "To D or Not to D: Understanding the Musculoskeletal and Non-Musculoskeletal Benefits of Vitamin D"
  • 2020-2021: Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS, MAMSE, FSSO, University of California San Francisco-UCSF. “The Evolving Management of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Is Less Sometimes more?” - Cancelled due to COVID
  • 2019-2020: Cancelled due to COVID

David E. Schteingart Lecture in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes

10th Annual David E. Schteingart Lecture in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes

Date: March 10, 2023
Time: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Brehm Tower, 5th floor, CURE Rm #5050 (with reception to immediately follow)

Guest speaker:
Lauren Fishbein, MD, PhD, MTR
Associate Professor
Director of the Neuroendocrine Tumor Clinical and Research Program
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes
Department of Biomedical Informatics
Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Endocrinology Section

Lecture Title: “Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma: Predicting Penetrance and Metastatic Disease

David Schteingart, MD
David E. Schteingart, MD

The Schteingart Lecture in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes (MEND) honors David Eduardo Schteingart, renowned University of Michigan Professor of Internal Medicine for nearly 40 years.

David Schteingart, MD, gained widespread recognition in the field of Endocrinology. Throughout his remarkable career, Dr. Schteingart authored 98 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 33 book chapters, and 80 abstracts. One of his most notable collaborations was with his wife of more than 50 years, Monica Starkman, MD, MS, of the Michigan Department of Psychiatry, and their groundbreaking research on the brain effects of chronic glucocorticoid exposure, using Cushing’s disease as a model.

Dr. Schteingart was also a recognized international expert in the treatment of adrenal cancer. With support from U-M football coach Bo Schembechler in honor of his wife, Millie, who was stricken with adrenal cancer, Dr. Schteingart founded the Millie Schembechler Adrenal Cancer Program in 1993 and served as its Director through 2005. He and his collaborators went on to publish collectively in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the U-M Adrenal Cancer Program gained national and international recognition for its leadership in the management of patients with this rare disease. From these beginnings emanated the current Endocrine Oncology Program of the U-M Rogel Cancer Center.

Dr. Schteingart supported and trained more than 100 young investigators in clinical research across disciplines, including individually mentoring many of them himself. In March 2012, Dr. Schteingart was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Award for Mentoring in Clinical and Translational Research from the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) for his commitment to excellence in research training.

Dr. Schteingart showed a never-give-up spirit in his academic and personal life. He was committed, through and through, to the essential missions that make the University of Michigan Medical School strong: care of people who needed him, the quest for knowledge, and the passing of that knowledge to others.

View Dan Schteingart’s, Dr. Schteingart’s son, thoughtful tribute to his father’s contribution to medicine.

Dr. Schteingart Lecture Archive