Head of Department "Pathophysiology of Prediabetes"
Prof. Norbert Stefan
"Precise clinical phenotyping is very effective to understand the pathogenesis of the cardiometabolic diseases and helps to implement personalized prevention and treatment of these diseases."
Academic Pathway & Research Area
Since he started his scientific career in 1997, Norbert Stefan focused on the clinical and experimental approach in humans to understand the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes and its complications.
He commenced his medical training in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany. Then, he received a stipend from the NIH/NIDDK to work as a Research Fellow at the NIH in Phoenix, USA, where he performed precise metabolic phenotyping in the Pima Indian population from 2001 to 2003 and focused on identifying the role of adiponectin in the regulation of insulin action in different tissues in adults and in children. For this purpose, he performed metabolic imaging of adipose tissue and the liver using the magnetic resonance techniques. Thereby, the role of fat accumulation in the liver as a putative early important causative factor in the genesis of insulin resistance moved in the focus of his research.
In Germany Norbert Stefan continued his medical training at the University Hospital of Tübingen and, focused on novel phenotyping strategies in the Tübingen Lifestyle Intervention Program (TULIP). In 2008 he received a Heisenberg-Stipend from the German Research Association and since 2011 he is Full Professor at the University of Tübingen. From 2018 until 2020 Norbert Stefan was a Visiting Professor at the Boston Children’s Hospital of the Harvard Medical School, where he could start a very fruitful scientific collaboration with Professor Morris F. White in the field of hepatokine research.
Norbert Stefan’s main areas of research are metabolic health in obesity (MHO) and normal weight. In this respect, in 2008, together with his colleagues, he published the first large cohort study addressing precise phenotyping in MHO. Another main area of his research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Besides phenotyping and treatment studies in NAFDL, together with his colleagues, in 2008 he first introduced the concept of hepatokines.
Fields of Work and Expertise
Endocrinology Diabetology NAFLD Clinical metabolic phenotyping of humans Epidemiology Genetics
Professional Background
Visiting Professorship, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Full Professor
Professorship for clinical and experimental Diabetology at the Department of Internal Medicine IV, University of Tübingen
Associate Professor; Heisenberg Stipend from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Assistant Professor
Fellow at the NIH, NIDDK, Phoenix, USA
Honors and Awards
- Innovation Award of the German Society for University Medicine 2010
- Heisenberg-Professorship for clinical and experimental Diabetology 2011
- Editorial Board Member The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology 2015
- Senior Associate Editor Diabetes 2021
Glucohead Award 2022
Note on advertising in videos
WEBSITE-URL has no influence on advertising content that is displayed before, during or after WEBSITE-URL videos. We assume no liability for this content. Further information can be found here.
Publications
Tilg, H. ; Petta, S. ; Stefan, N. ; Targher, G.
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in adults: A review.Wang, Y. ; Sandforth, A. ; Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, R. ; Ganslmeier, M. ; Cheng, Y. ; Sandforth, L. ; Katzenstein, S. ; Machann, J. ; Schick, F. ; Kantartzis, K. ; Preissl, H. ; Fritsche, A. ; Stefan, N. ; Bergman, M. ; Birkenfeld, A.L.
Lifestyle intervention is more effective in high 1-hour post-load glucose than in prediabetes for restoring β-cell function, reducing ectopic fat, and preventing type 2 diabetes.Grieger, J.A. ; Takele, W.W. ; Vesco, K.K. ; Redman, L.M. ; Hannah, W. ; Bonham, M.P. ; Chen, M. ; Chivers, S.C. ; Fawcett, A.J. ; Habibi, N. ; Liu, K. ; Mekonnen, E.G. ; Pathirana, M. ; Quinteros, A. ; Taylor, R. ; Ukke, G.G. ; Zhou, S.J. ; ADA/EASD PMDI (Stefan, N.)
Participant characteristics in the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions to optimize gestational weight gain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Sandforth, A. ; Arreola, E.V. ; Hanson, R.L. ; Wewer Albrechtsen, N.J. ; Holst, J.J. ; Ahrends, R. ; Coman, C. ; Gerst, F. ; Lorza-Gil, E. ; Cheng, Y. ; Sandforth, L. ; Katzenstein, S. ; Ganslmeier, M. ; Seissler, J. ; Hauner, H. ; Perakakis, N. ; Wagner, R. ; Machann, J. ; Schick, F. ; Peter, A. ; Lehmann, R. ; Weigert, C. ; Maurer, J. ; Preissl, H. ; Heni, M. ; Szendrödi, J. ; Kopf, S. ; Solimena, M. ; Schwarz, P. ; Blüher, M. ; Häring, H.-U. ; Hrabě de Angelis, M. ; Schürmann, A. ; Kabisch, S. ; Mai, K. ; Pfeiffer, A.F.H. ; Bornstein, S. ; Stumvoll, M. ; Roden, M. ; Stefan, N. ; Fritsche, A. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, R.
Prevention of type 2 diabetes through prediabetes remission without weight loss.Mantovani, A. ; Morandin, R. ; Fiorio, V. ; Lando, M.G. ; Stefan, N. ; Tilg, H. ; Byrne, C.D. ; Targher, G.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists improve MASH and liver fibrosis: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.Stefan, N. ; Roden, M.
Diabetes und metabolische-Dysfunktion-assoziierte steatotische Lebererkrankung.Mantovani, A. ; Morandin, R. ; Lando, M.G. ; Fiorio, V. ; Pennisi, G. ; Petta, S. ; Stefan, N. ; Tilg, H. ; Byrne, C.D. ; Targher, G.
Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor use and risk of liver-related events in patients with type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis of observational cohort studies.Stefan, N.
Does tirzepatide treatment improve skeletal muscle composition?Sandforth, L. ; Raverdy, V. ; Sandforth, A. ; Bauvin, P. ; Chatelain, E. ; Verkindt, H. ; Mingrone, G. ; Guidone, C. ; Verrastro, O. ; Zhou, K. ; Archid, R. ; Mihaljevic, A.L. ; Caiazzo, R. ; Baud, G. ; Marciniak, C. ; Chetboun, M. ; Ganslmeier, M. ; Minelli Faiao, V. ; Heni, M. ; Fritsche, L. ; Moller, A. ; Kantartzis, K. ; Peter, A. ; Lehmann, R. ; Wagner, R. ; Prystupa, K. ; Fritsche, A. ; Stefan, N. ; Preissl, H. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Jumpertz von Schwartzenberg, R. ; Pattou, F.
Subphenotype-dependent benefits of bariatric surgery for individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes.Heni, M. ; Hummel, J. ; Fritsche, L. ; Wagner, R. ; Relker, L. ; Machann, J. ; Schick, F. ; Birkenfeld, A.L. ; Schleicher, E. ; Königsrainer, A. ; Häring, H.-U. ; Stefan, N. ; Fritsche, A. ; Peter, A.
Elevated cholinesterase activity and the metabolic syndrome-dissecting fatty liver, insulin resistance and dysglycaemia.
