Robert Lefkowitz, MD

Robert Lefkowitz is the James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University. He has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1976.

Dr. Lefkowitz is best known for his groundbreaking discoveries that reveal the inner workings of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with his former trainee Dr. Brian Kobilka. His lab has studied GPCR biology and signal transduction and his studies have extended to the discovery and characterization of two families of GPCR associated proteins, the GPCR kinases and β-arrestins. 

Dr. Lefkowitz has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a recipient of the National Medal of Science as well as numerous other awards. He served as Clinical and Research Associate at the National Institutes of Health as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. He completed his general medical residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and his medical residency and cardiology fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a BA in Chemistry from Columbia College, and an MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.