Garvan held its annual International Fellow Symposium on 12 September, an event held each year to honour our major International Visiting  Fellow. This year, the event was entitled Critical Pathways in Disease, and focused on diabetes because visiting Fellow, Professor Ron Kahn, is Head of the Joslin Clinic in the United States, the Mecca of diabetes research in the world.

Professor Kahn's ranking for publications and citations is the highest of any person in diabetes and metabolism in the world. It was fitting, therefore, that he delivered the first "Leslie Lazarus Oration".

Earlier this year, the Garvan Board decided that the main lecture given by our International Visiting Fellows would be entitled the Leslie Lazarus Oration in recognition of the work done by Professor Lazarus AO, the first full time Director of the Garvan Institute, a role he filled for 20 years. Professor Lazarus was a pioneer of endocrine research in Australia and played a critical role in developing Garvan as a major medical research institute.