The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has created the Alan Permutt Career Development Award in honor of the late M. Alan Permutt, MD, who died June 10, 2012.

Permutt, a faculty member since 1970 and one of the world’s leading diabetes researchers, was professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The foundation’s Career Development Awards provide promising scientists with five years of support to nurture careers and research independence. The new Alan Permutt Career Development Award honors research specific to beta cell therapies, an area where Permutt provided important contributions over his career as professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at Washington University School of Medicine.

The first Permutt Career Development Award was presented to Francis Lynn, PhD, at the University of British Columbia, who works in the field of beta cell therapies for type 1 diabetes.