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Sadaf Farooqi
Fellow

Professor I. Sadaf Farooqi

Professorial Fellow; Professor of Metabolism and Medicine, University of Cambridge

Address
University of Cambridge Institute of Metabolic Science,, Level 4 Box 289 Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge CB2 0QQ
Contact
isf20@cam.ac.uk⁠ 01223 762634⁠
Website
Social media

Sadaf Farooqi is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is an internationally leading Clinician Scientist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie obesity and its complications. The work of Sadaf Farooqi and her colleagues has fundamentally altered the understanding of how body weight is regulated. With colleagues, she discovered and characterised the first genetic disorders that cause severe childhood obesity and established that the principal driver of obesity in these conditions was a failure of the control of appetite. Her work is often cited as an exemplar of how the translation of research into the mechanisms of disease can lead to patient benefit. She has received a number of awards including the 2024 Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society. In 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of her exceptional contribution to science.

Degrees

  • 1993      MB. ChB (Hons), University of Birmingham          
  • 1996      MRCP, Royal College of Physicians, London                   
  • 2001      PhD, Trinity College, University of Cambridge

Honours

  • 2008      FRCP, Royal College of Physicians, London
  • 2013     FMedSci, Academy of Medical Sciences, UK
  • 2019     Doctor of Science, University of Wolverhampton
  • 2021     FRS, Fellow of the Royal Society

Academic Distinctions

  • 1993      Queen's Scholarship, University of Birmingham (gold medal)
  • 1994      Houseman of the Year Prize, Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham
  • 2006      Young Scientist of the Year Biosciences Award, House of Commons
  • 2006      Andre Mayer Award, International Association for the Study of Obesity
  • 2007      RD Lawrence Award, Diabetes UK
  • 2010    European Society for Clinical Investigation Award for Excellence in Clinical Research
  • 2012      Society for Endocrinology Medal
  • 2012      European Society of Endocrinology (EJE) Prize
  • 2012      Royal College of Physicians UK Graham Bull Prize in Clinical Science
  • 2015      Berthold Medal, German Endocrine Society
  • 2017      Otto Wolff Medal, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  • 2019      American Diabetes Association Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award
  • 2019      Elected to European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO)
  • 2021      Dale Medal, Society for Endocrinology
  • 2021      Croonian Medal of the Royal Society (with Stephen O’Rahilly)
  • 2022      The Obesity Society’s Research Achievement Award
  • 2024      Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society

 

Authored work

  • Farooqi IS, Jebb SA, Langmack G, Lawrence E, Cheetham CH, Prentice AM, Hughes IA, McCamish MA, O’Rahilly S. Effects of recombinant leptin therapy in a child with congenital leptin deficiency. New England Journal of Medicine. 1999 Sep 16;341(12):879-84. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199909163411204.

     

    Farooqi IS, Keogh JM, Yeo GS, Lank EJ, Cheetham T, O'Rahilly S. Clinical spectrum of obesity and mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor gene. New England Journal of Medicine. 2003 Mar 20;348(12):1085-95. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa022050.

     

    Bochukova EG, Huang N, Keogh J, Henning E, Purmann C, Blaszczyk K, Saeed S, Hamilton-Shield J, Clayton-Smith J, O'Rahilly S, Hurles ME, Farooqi IS. Large, rare chromosomal deletions associated with severe early-onset obesity. Nature. 2010 Feb 4;463(7281):666-70. doi: 10.1038/nature08689. Epub 2009 Dec 6.

     

    Lotta LA, Mokrosiński J, Mendes de Oliveira E, Li C, Sharp SJ, Luan J, Brouwers B, Ayinampudi V, Bowker N, Kerrison N, Kaimakis V, Hoult D, Stewart ID, Wheeler E, Day FR, Perry JRB, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Farooqi IS. Human Gain-of-Function MC4R Variants Show Signaling Bias and Protect against Obesity. Cell. 2019 Apr 18;177(3):597-607.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.044.

     

    Mendes de Oliveira E, Keogh JM, Talbot F, Henning E, Ahmed R, Perdikari A, Bounds R, Wasiluk N, Ayinampudi V, Barroso I, MokrosiÅ„ski J, Jyothish D, Lim S, Gupta S, Kershaw M, Matei C, Partha P, Randell T, McAculay A, Wilson LC, Cheetham T, Crowne EC, Clayton P, Farooqi IS. Obesity-Associated GNAS Mutations and the Melanocortin Pathway. New England Journal of Medicine. 2021 Oct 21;385(17):1581-1592. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2103329. Epub 2021 Oct 

Subject
Medicine