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A top scientist in the field of exercise and metabolism will receive an international honor for his outstanding achievements in medical research on Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Zhen Yan, a Virginia Tech professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, will receive the 2022 Jacobus Award.
The award is given annually by the Novo Nordisk Foundation to an internationally recognized scientist who has made a significant achievement.
“I certainly feel privileged and excited to be selected, but I think there are many scientists who are just as qualified, if not,” said Yan, who is also a faculty member in the Department of Human Nutrition, Nutrition and Exercise. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
It studies the effects of regular physical activity on health and disease prevention. He said his experience in medicine and surgical training led him to think early in his career that exercise might be the best medicine.
“We are facing an unprecedented chronic disease challenge at an epidemic scale,” said Yan, who directs the Center for Exercise Medicine Research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. “Pharmacological treatments are invaluable and have saved many lives, but exercise as a preventive intervention when we are generally healthy will probably have a greater impact on the individual, family, society and the world.”
Along with age, he says it’s important to think about that in terms of health time — when people’s lives are generally healthier.
“Over the past 50 years, most of the effort has been invested in developing drugs to treat various diseases, and we have made great progress,” Yan said. “Life expectancy in the United States has increased by at least 10 years. However, if you look at our age of health, it will not be long. And because of that, you have a lot of patients with gradual isolation.”
What is the solution?
“It’s clear that comprehensive interventions will be critical to promoting physical health, mental health, and social health,” Yan said. “For example, an antioxidant molecule produced by muscle and stimulated by exercise has effects on various organs to protect against heart and chronic diseases and even respiratory disorders in Covid-19.”
He continued, “There are many others. How our bodies respond to exercise not only to improve physical performance, but to develop many other health benefits remains a mystery. Our recent discovery of a key regulatory enzyme, AMPK, as a substitute for energy in the cell’s powerhouse sheds new light on the sophisticated regulatory system within our cells that supports our health.
He will present that research in a special lecture in Copenhagen.
“Dr. Yan is a visionary in connecting exercise to health and disease prevention with a strong understanding of the many levels of interaction at the molecular to whole organism scale,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Virginia Tech vice president for Health Science and Technology. “We were very fortunate to have Dr. Yan join the research institute this year and take on a leadership role for the new Exercise Medicine Research Center, which will further strengthen our science-based approach to health, building on our strengths in behavioral health science.
The Jakobæus Award was established in 1939 in honor of Hans Christian Jacobeus, a Swedish professor and pioneering clinical researcher who developed a method to diagnose and treat lung diseases, particularly tuberculosis.
Supported by the Endocrinology and Metabolism Committee of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
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