Steven Grinspoon is an American physician who is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Metabolism Unit, and Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard. In addition, he is the MGH Endowed Chair in Neuroendocrinology and Metabolism. His work investigates the neuroendocrine regulation of body composition, and physiologic consequences of fat distribution on cardiovascular disease and inflammation. He has investigated the effects of reduced growth hormone on metabolic dysregulation in obesity and was the first to propose the use of a Growth Hormone-releasing Hormone (GHRH) analogue to increase endogenous GH secretion on lipodystrophy and generalized obesity, which led to the FDA approval of Tesamorelin for excess visceral fat accumulation in HIV-infected patients. This work has now been extended to show robust effects on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). More recently, his research focuses on the inflammatory mechanisms by which ectopic fat and other metabolic perturbations contribute to HIV-Cardiovascular disease (CVD), and in this regard, he led the AHA State of the Science Conference on CVD in HIV. Additionally, he is leading the large multicenter REPRIEVE study, the first study of a primary prevention strategy for CVD in people living with HIV. He has also investigated increased Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAAS) activation and immune activation in relationship to visceral fat accumulation, and the mechanisms of subcutaneous adipose dysfunction involving DICER. Grinspoon has served on the Harvard faculty since 1995 and has been selected by the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians for his scientific contributions. He received the American Federation of Medical Research Investigator of the Year Award in 2005 and the Edward H. Ahrens Jr. Award for Patient Oriented Research in 2014 as well as the Endocrine Society Laureate Award for Translational Research in 2016. He has published over 330 articles and mentored over 40 trainees in his career. He was elected as a Member of the American Clinical and Climatological Association for his achievements in 2017. His work demonstrating the effects of Tesamorelin to reduce hepatic fat and fibrosis progression in NAFLD, published in Lancet HIV, was a finalist for the Clinical Research Forum’s top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards in 2020. In 2015, he became the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard.
Publications
Grinspoon has published 265 original research articles, and over 50 review papers in his field. He has authored key Chapters in the Williams Textbook of Endocrinology and The Oxford textbook of Endocrinology on the endocrine manifestation of HIV/AIDS. He has served on the Weight Loss and Wasting Working Group Expert Panel on National HIV/AIDS to develop Nutrition Guidelines for the Department of Health and Human Services and developed guidelines for the Nutritional Assessment of HIV-infected Patients in work commissioned by the NIH and WHO. He has contributed to key guidelines on the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in HIV, Chairing the AHA State of the Science Conference on CVD Risk in HIV in 2008, published in Circulation and the NIH sponsored symposium on the Review and Recognition of Obesity in HIV in 2017, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. He has also participated in the writing group of guidelines for the International AIDS Society-USA Management of Metabolic Complications Associated with Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-1 infection. He has served on the Advisory Boards of JCEM, JAIDS AIDS, and Nature Reviews Endocrinology, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Education
Grinspoon graduated from Cornell University in 1983, attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine, graduating in 1988, and was awarded AOA Alumni Award from the medical school in 2006. He did his medical residency and Chief Residency at Columbia Presbyterian from 1988 to 1992 and his Endocrinology Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1992 to 1995.