Distinguished guests and members of the jury:
It is a great honor for me to receive the 2025 World Prize for Humanism from the Ohrid Academy of Humanism and to join a distinguished group of previous laurates who made significant contributions to philosophy, literature, music, arts, politics and sciences.
My interest in pursuing a career in science was encouraged by my education in former Yugoslavia, starting in my hometown in Skopje and later in middle and high school in Belgrade. During my childhood summers in Ohrid I would visit with my parents the Hydrobiological Institute and observe first-hand the efforts of the scientists working at the Institute to preserve the fish populations in Ohrid lake and especially the endangered Ohrid trout, pastrmka. I was fascinated by their dedication and commitment.
My studies at the department of physical chemistry at the University of Belgrade prepared me for all my future endeavors in science.
During my graduate and postgraduate years at the Rockefeller University in New York my studies with the glucose-regulatory hormone, glucagon, set the stage for my discovery of GLP-1 in the early 1980’s at the Endocrine unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. My independent biochemical studies and later collaborations with clinical investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston between 1983 and 1992 established that GLP-1 is a new hormone that regulates glucose metabolism and has therapeutic potential for treatment of diabetes.
It took another 18 years for Novo Nordisk to develop the first GLP-1-based medication, Victoza, for treatment of diabetes and in 2014 Saxenda for weigh loss. In 2017 Novo Nordisk developed a more efficient GLP-1-based medicine for diabetes, Ozempic and in 2021 Wegovy for more significant weight loss.
The discovery of GLP-1 highlight how development of new medicines takes a long time to develop and is a collaborative effort between academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies. But it starts with a discovery at academic and research institutions.
It is my privilege to have contributed to the scientific efforts that impact the health and lives of millions of people.
Thank you very much.
It is a great honor for me to receive the 2025 World Prize for Humanism from the Ohrid Academy of Humanism and to join a distinguished group of previous laurates who made significant contributions to philosophy, literature, music, arts, politics and sciences.
My interest in pursuing a career in science was encouraged by my education in former Yugoslavia, starting in my hometown in Skopje and later in middle and high school in Belgrade. During my childhood summers in Ohrid I would visit with my parents the Hydrobiological Institute and observe first-hand the efforts of the scientists working at the Institute to preserve the fish populations in Ohrid lake and especially the endangered Ohrid trout, pastrmka. I was fascinated by their dedication and commitment.
My studies at the department of physical chemistry at the University of Belgrade prepared me for all my future endeavors in science.
During my graduate and postgraduate years at the Rockefeller University in New York my studies with the glucose-regulatory hormone, glucagon, set the stage for my discovery of GLP-1 in the early 1980’s at the Endocrine unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. My independent biochemical studies and later collaborations with clinical investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston between 1983 and 1992 established that GLP-1 is a new hormone that regulates glucose metabolism and has therapeutic potential for treatment of diabetes.
It took another 18 years for Novo Nordisk to develop the first GLP-1-based medication, Victoza, for treatment of diabetes and in 2014 Saxenda for weigh loss. In 2017 Novo Nordisk developed a more efficient GLP-1-based medicine for diabetes, Ozempic and in 2021 Wegovy for more significant weight loss.
The discovery of GLP-1 highlight how development of new medicines takes a long time to develop and is a collaborative effort between academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies. But it starts with a discovery at academic and research institutions.
It is my privilege to have contributed to the scientific efforts that impact the health and lives of millions of people.
Thank you very much.
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