The world of endocrinology – and indeed the world – lost a titan at the end of 2025 in Joel Habener, MD, who passed away December 28 at the age of 88. Habener, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was instrumental in the development of GLP-1-based drugs that have revolutionized the treatment of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and beyond.
Habener became interested in how the hormone glucagon fits into the puzzle of how the body regulates blood sugar levels in the 1970s. When Habener cloned the gene for glucagon, he discovered that it encodes not only glucagon itself, but also another molecule that resembles glucagon-like-peptide-1.
“Joel Habener was a pioneer in molecular endocrinology who utilized the power of molecular biology to gain unique insights into the structure and processing of prohormones,” says Daniel J.
Endocrine News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 09 Jan 2026.
The item focuses on Remembering Joel Habener, MD.
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