2025 Distinguished Fellows

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Dr. Padmanabhan received her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science. Her career at the University of Michigan began in 1985. She is an active Professor Emerita in the Departments of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Molecular and Integrative Physiology in the School of Medicine and Departments of Environmental Health Sciences and Nutritional Sciences in the School of Public Health. Dr. Padmanabhan’s body of published work, service to the SSR, and enduring impact in the field of reproductive science all embody the attributes of a SSR Distinguished Fellow.

She has been continuously NIH funded since 1988, published over 250 peer reviewed manuscripts with an H-index of 74 (~20,000 citations). Her active funding includes PI or co-I role on 6 NIH R01s, MPI in a T32 and an Associate Director role on a P30 grant.

Her remarkable career involves several translational discoveries –developmental origin of reproductive/metabolic deficits; transmission across generations; developmental impact of endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) mixtures and recently transgender medicine. Her pioneering work in endocrinology, toxicology and the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) is at the crossroads of basic and clinical research.

Her key achievements include: 1) development of one of the first two in vitro FSH bioassays, 2) first in vivo demonstration of separate episodic and constitutive release of FSH, 3) development of a sheep model of PCOS and documentation of the impact of postnatal obesity in amplifying PCOS severity, 4) identifying preventative interventions to stop PCOS development, 5) distinguishing the role of androgen and insulin in the origin of the reproductive and metabolic aspects of PCOS , 6) discoveries in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian, behavioral and metabolic aspects which lead to an integrative understanding of PCOS etiology, 7) providing evidence for ectopic lipid accumulation (‘lipotoxicity”) as a result of reduced adipocyte differentiation which paved the way for clinical translation, 8) discovering the impact of gestational exposure to BPA in a precocial large animal as in humans, and 9) establishing the Michigan Mother Infant Pairs (MMIP) cohort and defining the negative impact of EDC exposure on the maternal and fetal milieu. Recognized globally for her scientific contributions, her expertise has led to multiple collaborations across the world.

Dr. Padmanabhan has been an active member of the SSR since 1990, serving on multiple committees (Animal Care, Program, Awards, Publication and Public Affairs Committees ) and as an editorial board member of Biology of Reproduction. She has served on over 50 NIH study sections (some as Chair) and center grants. She is currently review co-editor
for Reproduction, associate editor of Toxics and Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology and editorial board member of several others.

She was awarded the James J Ireland Lectureship for distinguished accomplishments using farm animal models to study reproductive biology in 2022 and the Ricardo Azziz Distinguished Research Award from AE-POCS Society in 2022. Her legacy continues in over 70 undergraduates, 25 postdoctoral and clinical fellows, and students who she supervised and mentored. With their continuing achievements in academics and industry, her trainees make her proud.

Raj is a tenured professor and The Edgar L, Patricia M Makowski and Family Endowed Chair and Associate Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora. He is the Director of the Women’s Reproductive Health Research Program. He received his MS (Biochemistry), MPhil (Reproductive Physiology) from University of Hyderabad and PhD (Endocrine Biochemistry) from University of Delhi, India. He obtained his postdoctoral training at the Vollum Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR and at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. He became an independent faculty at Baylor College of Medicine and then moved to University of Kansas Medical Center where he became a tenured professor and Director, Center for Reproductive Sciences. In 2016, he moved to University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Raj’s research focus has been on understanding gonadotrope tumors, gonadotropin biosynthesis, trafficking and secretion and action in gonad development and gonadal and extragonadal physiology using mouse genetic models. Some of his basic research work is currently being translated and tested in the clinic. He published over 150 papers, some of them in very high impact journals including Nature, Nature Genetics, Cell, Nature Communications, J Clinical Investigation, PNAS, Clinical Cancer Research, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Biology of Reproduction, Molecular Endocrinology and Endocrinology. He co-edited a textbook entitled “Transgenics in Endocrinology” and edited a text book on “Gonadotropins: From Bench to the Bedside”. He is an Associate Editor of Biology of Reproduction, an Associate Editor of Molecular Reproduction and Development and a Reviewing Editor of Endocrinology. He has been an invited speaker at more than 180 national / international symposia and academic institutes all over the world. He served as an Ad-hoc Member on several NIH Study Section and Special Emphasis review panels and served as a standing member on the NIH-Integrative and Clinical and Endocrinology and Reproduction Review Panel (2019-2023). He has mentored over 100 members including junior faculty, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, graduate students, technicians, high school students and he serves as a member on many graduate student thesis committees.

Since 2002, Raj has been a member of the SSR and served on numerous committees both as a member and Chair. In 2022, he was elected to the SSR Board of Directors (2022-2025). Raj received the University of Kansas (KU) – IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, Faculty Scholar Award, KU Medical Center Faculty Investigator Research Award and Thomas L. Noffsinger Investigator Award, Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Endocrine Society and from Elsevier Press journal, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. He is the recipient of many awards including the 2018 Joy Goodwin Lecture (Auburn University), 2021 Neena B. Schwartz Memorial Keynote Lecture (Northwestern University) and the 2021 Janice E. Bahr Keynote Lectureship Award in Reproductive Biology (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), the 2021 David Yawn Commemorative Lecture Award (Baylor College of Medicine) and the 2025 The Hill Endowed Lecture (Penn State University) award. Earlier in 2025, he received the prestigious INRAe Professorship award from Le Studium, France. He serves as an External Advisory Board Member to Center for Reproductive Sciences, Northwestern University and The Harvard Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Peter Sutovsky earned his PhD degree from the Czech Academy of Sciences in 1994, when he completed his graduate training at The Institute of Animal Physiology & Genetics in Liběchov, Czechia. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison WI, and a Staff Scientist at the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland OR, before his 2001 faculty appointment at the University of Missouri, Columbia MO, where he is currently a Professor of Animal Science, and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health. He is recognized for his studies of mammalian gametogenesis, fertilization, and embryo development with emphasis on the gametic and zygotic ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). He was the first to describe the role of UPS in the regulation of mitochondrial inheritance and introduced the concept of extracellular UPS and its role in sperm maturation and fertilization. In his career, Peter received numerous national and international awards and honors, including an honorary doctoral degree, several honorary professorships, membership in the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and the election for a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has an extensive record of publications, citations, patents, grant awards and senior level editorial appointments. His most recent work focuses on sperm genome-to-phenotype research, biomarker-based flow cytometric semen analysis, semen nanopurification and sperm capacitation studies aimed at improving conception rates in livestock and assisted reproductive therapies in humans.