Dr. Alan Cherrington

Dr. Alan Cherrington will receive an honorary Doctor of Science at the 69th Convocation Ceremony in Fredericton.

Dr. Cherrington is a UNB alumnus, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1967. He earned both a Master of Science in physiology (1969) and PhD in physiology (1973) from the University of Toronto. He completed his post-doctoral training at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and is currently a professor there in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, a department he chaired for almost 10 years. He is also a professor in the Department of Medicine and holds The Jacquelyn A. Turner and Dr. Dorothy J. Turner Chair in Diabetes Research.

As the associate director of the Diabetes Research and Training Center at Vanderbilt for several decades, he is counted among the top diabetes researchers globally. During his term as president of the American Diabetes Association, the first non-medical doctor to hold this position, he travelled the world to educate people on the rapid spread of diabetes and called for increased funding for research across the world.

In addition to other professional honours, Dr. Cherrington has received a number of awards throughout his career: the Josiah Kirby Lilly, Sr. Distinguished Service Award from the American Diabetes Association Heartland Region; the MDRF-ADA Gold Medal from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation; the Frederick Banting Medal for Service from the American Diabetes Association, the Frederick Banting Award for Career Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association and the David Rumbough Award for Scientific Achievement from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2016, he was awarded UNB’s Alumni Award of Distinction for his efforts to raise awareness of diabetes, while researching new medical solutions.

Dr. Cherrington’s passion for science and medical research led he and members of this family to create the Cherrington Family Scholarships at UNB. These scholarships are awarded to science and nursing students.