In light of his distinguished career in diabetes research spanning 45 years, Professor Noel Morgan from the University of Exeter has been honoured with two prestigious international awards.
Prof Morgan was “delighted, humbled and surprised” to receive the GF Bottazzo award from the Immunology of Diabetes Society for 2024, which celebrates scientists who’ve made significant contributions to the field.
In addition, he’s received a lifetime achievement award by the Network of Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD).
Prof Morgan has made significant breakthroughs that have grown our understanding of how type 1 diabetes develops. As well as being a fantastic mentor to early-career researchers.
With our funding, he’s currently investigating how a pair of proteins work together in insulin-making beta cells to fight off the immune attack. And we’ve funded nine of Prof Morgan’s research projects in total, investing over £600,000.
Prof Morgan has also supported our research funding for nearly two decades, sitting on our Research Committee from 2005-2008 and 2017-2023, helping us to ensure the research we fund is of the highest scientific quality and has the greatest potential to improve the lives of people living with or at risk of diabetes. We’re also grateful for his guidance from 2010-2015 on our Science and Research Advisory Group, made up of people living with diabetes, diabetes researchers and healthcare professionals, who help to steer the direction of our research so it can have the biggest impact.
We’d like to offer our congratulations to Prof Morgan for all his incredible work towards a world where diabetes can do no harm.
Professor Morgan said:
"I’m truly delighted and genuinely humbled to receive these awards. It has been my lifelong ambition to find a way to stop the development of type 1 diabetes and I’m thrilled that my research may have brought this day closer.
"It’s a special pleasure that others working in the field have seen my contributions as important. It’s also recognition for my amazing team of truly inspirational scientists who have made the exciting journey of discovery with me. I owe them a huge debt."
Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Director of Research at Diabetes UK, said:
"We are thrilled to celebrate Professor Morgan’s remarkable achievements in advancing our understanding of type 1 diabetes, which have now been duly acknowledged through these prestigious awards.
"The collective efforts of Professor Morgan and others mean that we now stand at the brink of a new era of treatments to delay or even entirely prevent type 1 diabetes. We are immensely proud to have supported Professor Morgan’s innovative research throughout his career, and extend our heartfelt gratitude for his unwavering support of Diabetes UK."
