Richard J. Auchus, MD, PhD ’88

Richard J. Auchus, MD, PhD ’88, professor of pharmacology and internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, is recognized for his discoveries in steroid synthesis, for diagnosing patients with complex adrenal disorders, and as a gifted lecturer and mentor.

The breadth of his accomplishments, resulting in more than 250 papers and book chapters, embodies the model of successful translational research. He is world-renowned for dissecting the action of a steroid-producing enzyme that had puzzled scientists for decades. His basic work led directly to the development of an inhibitor used to treat castrationresistant prostate cancer. Auchus’s clinical studies focus on disorders of the pituitary, adrenals, ovaries, and testes that cause hypertension, infertility, or obesity.

Auchus’s clinical expertise has put him on national panels that establish care and treatment guidelines for adrenal disorders, and he is in high demand from endocrinologists nationwide who refer patients with perplexing disorders.

Auchus’s honors include a Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research, the Jean D. Wilson, MD Award for Excellence in Scientific Mentoring at UT Southwestern, and a Pioneer Award from the CARES Foundation. He was listed three times as one of the Best Doctors in Dallas by D Magazine, honored as an outstanding reviewer by two major journals, and named Teacher of the Year by the University of Michigan Endocrinology Fellowship. He is a fellow of the American College of Endocrinology and was elected to the Association of American Physicians.

Auchus earned his bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and his MD/PhD from Washington University in 1988. After completing residency training at the University of Iowa, he became an endocrinology fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center- San Antonio and Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, where he spent a further two years as a staff endocrinologist. A research fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, followed; and he joined the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 1999. In 2011, he moved to the University of Michigan, where he also serves as program director for the Endocrinology Fellowship.

The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association is pleased to present its Alumni Achievement Award to Dr. Auchus.