Gerald Reaven

Gerald M. "Jerry" Reaven is an American endocrinologist and professor emeritus in medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, United States.

A long-term researcher into diabetes, he achieved significant notability with his 1988 Banting Lecture (organised annually by the American Diabetes Association in memory of Frederick Banting). In his lecture, he propounded the theory that central obesity (male-type or apple-shaped obesity), diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) have a common cause in insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. Initially titled "syndrome X", the constellation of symptoms is now known as the metabolic syndrome and an object of extensive scientific enquiry, especially given that the combination strongly predisposes for cardiovascular disease. Still, Reaven believes that contemporary criteria are arbitrary and that it may not be necessary to define it as a diagnostic entity more than a pathophysiological parameter.

He obtained his academic qualifications at the University of Chicago and did his internship there. After research work in Stanford and two years in the U.S. Army medical corps he completed his residency at the University of Michigan. He then took up a US Public Health Service research post at Stanford, where he progressed to a full professorship in 1970. He led endocrinology and gerontology research.

Apart from his work at Stanford he is also Senior Vice President for Research for Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in South San Francisco, a post he has held since his official emeritate from Stanford.

He is a member of several research organisations and has received numerous prizes for his research achievements. He is co-author of a popular book on Syndrome X and its repercussions on cardiovascular disease.