[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Gerstein, Hertzel 2006 edited.jpg” caption=”Hertzel Gerstein, professor of medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, is the recipient of the Charles H. Best Award. File photo. “]Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, professor of medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, was recognized today for his leadership in the field of diabetes research and care.

Gerstein was given the Charles H. Best Award from the Canadian Diabetes Association at the 11th Annual Canadian Diabetes Association and Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Professional Conference in Vancouver, B.C.

The award recognizes a health professional who has made a significant difference in improving the quality of life of Canadians living with diabetes.

Gerstein devotes his career to searching for the causes of diabetes and finding better ways to prevent and treat it. He is the principal investigator on four ongoing randomized controlled trials and a co-investigator on eight other large studies. His influence and reputation has grown throughout the past 20 years, as he takes on more leading roles in the fight to prevent and manage diabetes.

Gerstein is the Canadian leader and an international principal investigator of the ongoing North American ACCORD trial of 10,000 individuals. With more than $20 million from the National Institutes of Health in the United States, Gerstein is working with academics from across Canada and the U.S. to determine if aggressively controlling the blood sugar, blood pressure and triglyceride levels of adults with diabetes can reduce their risk of heart disease, stroke and death.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the Charles H. Best Award,” said Gerstein. “I would like to dedicate this award to everyone in our society who is working to solve the huge problem that is diabetes: the patients, the scientists, the health care providers, the health care industry and the Canadian Diabetes Association.

“It is only by continuing to work together that we will make the world a better and healthier place in which people with diabetes can live and thrive.”

Gerstein is the founder of Diabetes Hamilton and holds the Population Health Research Institute Chair in Diabetes Research. He is also recognized for the DREAM trial that showed that a drug used to treat diabetes may significantly reduce the chances of developing the disease when taken by those most at risk.