Raymond Hintz
Zvi Laron
Hans Ørskov
Peter Sönksen
Minoru Irie

   The Growth Hormone Research Society honors one of its founders and former president, Professor Emeritus Raymond Hintz with an honorary membership.

   Ray has been instrumental in unraveling the GH-IGF axis and has been a leader in the field for 4 decades. He trained in the University of North Carolina during the initial days of the formation of our understanding of the biology of GH and has been the co-discoverer of the IGF-binding proteins. Soon afterwards, he settled in Stanford University where he created a leading research and training program in the field. His career spanned the spectrum of basic research, clinical research, teaching and patient care. He trained dozens of fellows, received scores of grants, was bestowed many honors and awards, and authored hundreds of papers.His lab developed important novel assays for GH-IGF axis components including, for example, the first ALS assay. Arguably, Ray's greatest contribution to the field has been his leadership in advancing GH therapy to new indications beyond GHD, most notably, ISS, with his classic paper in NEJM, paving the way to the approval of GH for this condition. Dr. Hintz retired from Stanford University in 2006 and lives in Palo Alto with his wife Carol. He continues to attend academic meetings. His work continues to influence and inspire all of us in the field.

   Dr. Zvi Laron was born on February 6, 1927 in Cernauti, Romania. During WWII he was deported to the Ukraine (1941–1943). He began his medical education in Timisoara, Romania but immigrated to Israel in 1948. He graduated from Hadassah Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel in 1952. He was a Fellow in Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from 1956–1957. In 1958, he was appointed Director of the Institute of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Beilinson Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Sackler Faculty ofMedicine, Tel Aviv University, and continued as Director until 1992.

   In 1966 in Israel, Laron and coworkers reported a genetic form of dwarfism in three Yemenite Jewish siblings with clinical and biochemical features of growth hormone deficiency, but with ‘‘abnormally high concentrations of immunoreactive serum growth hormone.’’ This syndrome is usually referred to as ‘‘Laron Syndrome’’ and has led to important insights into the actions of growth hormone. Since then, some 250 patients have been identified with Laron Syndrome worldwide. Professor Laron has been a founding member of the ISPAD (International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes), the ESPE (European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology),COPES (CoordinationOffice for Pediatric Endocrine Societies), and the GRS (Growth Hormone Research Society). He was a council member of the GRS from 1992 to 1998. He has received many awards for his contributions, and has been the editor of several influential journals. Dr. Laron is now Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Endocrinology, Tel Aviv University and Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel.

   Hans Ørskov is the story of a young man, who descended a staircase to a dark cellar underneath Aarhus Kommunehospital. He has stayed there for over 40 years spending the time developing one of the most productive research laboratories in endocrinology and diabetes. In his spare time, he graduated from Medical School at Aarhus University in 1960 and completed his thesis for which he was awarded his DMSc in 1975. He became a full Professor in 1983. In the beginning Hans worked with Professor Knud Lundbæk on the hypothesis of a causal relationship between growth hormone hypersecretion and the evolution of late diabetic complications. In the slipstream of this theory Hans fathered a series of immunoassays, which formed the backbone of investigations carried out by a large number of co-workers. The list is long and ranges from iodothyronines to insulin. The spine of his own favourite research, however, remains the growth hormone axis. In collaboration with a host of young colleagues assays have been developed for ghrelin, growth hormone, pegvisomant (a growth hormone antagonist), growth hormone binding protein, total and free IGF-I, bioactive IGF-I, and some others.

   Over the years this has ramified into research in areas such as IGF-I and experimental diabetic nephropathy, the impact of growth hormone on substrate metabolism, pharmacological and clinical aspects of growth hormone therapy, medical treatment of acromegaly, free IGF-II and tumor-induced hypoglycemia. Hans was also Vice Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Aarhus University with a thoroughbred, albeit understated, talent for the politics of Academia. He has received several awards including the Hagedorn Price and the Lundbæk Medal, and he is honorary member of the Danish Endocrine Society. It is often stated that power is a matter of conquering space and money. To Hans power means two things. First, to create space for young investigators. Second, to send money after ideas, and not the other way around. That is why his cellar continues with vintage productions.

   Professor Peter Sonksen was born 29th March 1936 in Germany to an English mother and German father. In 1939 he and his family left Germany to live in England. He graduated from Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London UK in 1960. He worked with Professor Sir John Nabarro at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School as a Leverhulme research fellow (1963–1964) where he developed a sensitive insulin bioassay. This research formed the basis of his MD which was awarded in 1967. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and studied at Havard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA from 1967 to 1969 where he investigated the in vivo distribution, binding and metabolism of insulin and growth hormone. In 1971 he was appointed Senior Lecturer to Professor Bill Cranston at St. Thomas_ Hospital and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1976. In 1979 he accepted a Chair in Endocrinology at St. Thomas Hospital Medical School. He was appointed clinical director of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Guys and St. Thomas_ NHS Trust in 1989 and became Chairman of the Division of Endocrinology and Chemical Pathology from 1988 to 1993 and Chairman of the Division of Medicine from 1996 to 1998. It is rare for a clinician to make one important discovery leading to a change in clinical practise but Peter was responsible for at least three.

   In the 1970s through research into insulin metabolism he discovered the efficacy of parenteral insulin infusions and pioneered the use of continuous low dose insulin infusion for the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis. Together with Dr. Clara Lowy he was the first to pioneer home blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients. In the 1980s his life-long interest in growth hormone led his demonstration of the vital importance of this hormone in normal adult life. He has campaigned tirelessly for the recognition of GH replacement for growth hormone deficient adults. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee and its Medical Sub-Commission on ‘‘Doping and Biochemistry in Sport’’ (1993–2003) and has in recent years been developing a test for the detection of GH abuse in sport. He has been the editor of many scientific journals including Clinical Endocrinology (1975–1979) and GH and IGF-I research. Peter was a founding member of the GRS and first President.

   Dr. Minoru Irie was born on March 10, 1928 in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo in 1952, and commenced his clinical and research career at the Third Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tokyo. His main research interest has been the clinical and basic endocrinology, especially of the pituitary and thyroid gland.

   He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship allowing him to undertake studies in Boston from 1959 to 1962. After one year of clinical experience, he worked in the Department of Endocrinology, New England Medical Center with Drs. E.B. Astwood and M.S. Raben. With Dr. Raben, he undertook pioneering work in extracting GH to treat children and adult with hypopituitarism. With the courtesy of Dr. Raben, he provided GH for the first treatment of pituitary dwarfism in Japan. He also undertook basic immunological studies on human GH and a number of pituitary peptides in collaboration with H. Friesen and colleagues (Endocrinology and J.Exp. Med, 1962). He also has done a preliminary work on GH assay at the Mass. General Hospital in 1962.

   On return to the University of Tokyo in 1963, he established radioimmunoassays of insulin and GH. Together with Drs. Toshio Tsushima and Maki Sakuma, he provided some of the most important research findings in the GH field including (i) The effect of changes in plasma free fatty acids level on the secretion of human GH (Proc.Soc.Exp.Biol.&Med. 1967, 1970 and Endocrinol. Japon.1970),(ii) GH secretion during nocturnal sleep in normal subjects (with Honda et al., JCEM 1969) and (iii) increase of serum GH concentration following thyrotropin-releasing hormone injection in patients with acromegaly or gigantism (JCEM 1972).

   In 1971, he took up an appointment as Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine, Toho University, and he continued to work on GH with his colleagues. Their studies included clinical trials of recombinant GH in various diseases and in hypopituitary adults, work on the direct effect of GH on lipolysis (Endocrinol. Metab. 1997), and standardization of GH assays (Horm.Res.2005).

   In 1998, he initiated a body of work on 20KDa GH when it became available with the advent of recombinant technology. The study group of 20KDa GH worked on basic and clinical aspects of this GH isoform, established a highly sensitive and specific assay which led to the characterization of its secretion in various conditions (JCEM 1999). The group also undertook the first clinical trial of 20KDa GH (JCEM 2004) and demonstrated the existence of negative feedback of 22KDa GH and 20KDa GH on endogenous GH secretion (JCEM and Endocrine J, 2000). This finding led him to study the possibility of using serum 20KDa GH level as a marker of exogenous 22KDa GH administration. He worked with Drs. Makoto Ueki and Takashi Kawahara to develop this approach as a GH doping test. They are working now as investigators in an Australia-Japan Consortium on a project supported by the WADA.

   Dr. Irie has been a leading member on a number of the national and international medical societies in his field. He was the chairman of the Study Group of Hypothalamo-Pituitary Disorders, Ministry of Health and Welfare from 1990 to 1996. Since 1999, Dr. Irie has been the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Foundation for Growth Science, which promotes the clinical and research development in growth science. The Foundation co-organized “The 3rd International Congress of the GRS and IGF Society” and organized its Satellite Meeting on “Use and Abuse of GH”, “The 6th Meeting of the International Society for Neonatal Screening” in 2006, and“XI International Congress of Auxology”in 2007.

   In addition, Dr. Irie with Dr. Hiroshi Naruse initiated neonatal hypothyroid screening in 1975 using blood spot on filter paper (Lancet 1975). This program covers almost 100% of newborn babies in Japan, and has identified approximately 10,000 cases for early treatment. This experience has broadened his interest to iodine deficient disorders (IDD). He has been an active members of the ICCIDD (International Council for Control of IDD) since 1985.

   Dr. Irie is still active and enthusiastic for the promotion of the field of growth science.