100th Anniversary Discovery of Insulin Banting Award – Leif Erik Lovblom
The Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations (NHP) has partnered with the Banting Research Foundation to co-present the 2025 100th Anniversary Discovery of Insulin Banting Award. This year’s winner is Dr. Leif Erik Lovblom, a biostatistician from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. His research uses sophisticated models to help doctors predict the risk of complications in people living with diabetes.
“It was a great honour to win this award,” says Lovblom. “The discovery of insulin was a watershed moment in the history of medicine, and since the 100th anniversary in 2021 I’ve been learning more about how insulin was discovered and the whole team of people involved in that, and how quickly they mobilized to producing it for mass use. It’s an incredible story and to be connected to it, even in this small way, a hundred years later is just a real honour.”
Lovblom, who lives with type 1 diabetes, was inspired to do research by his personal connection to the condition. He felt that his passion for applied mathematics could offer a way to create models that would better support physicians in understanding who was most at risk for complications and, in turn, allow them to provide more personalized treatment options to reduce that risk in patients.
During his doctoral studies in the lab of Dr. Bruce Perkins at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, Lovblom worked with data from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (DCCT/EDIC). Running since 1983, this decades-long study of complications in type 1 diabetes has created a rich source of data for study, which Lovblom was able to factor into his modelling.
Starting his own lab, he was inspired to apply for the Banting Award in the hope of continuing the research into the data he found so compelling during his studies. “I had been looking at statistical models and applying them in diabetes. There were so many open questions left from that work. I wanted to see if I could expand on what I had done during my PhD and offer real-world utility,” Lovblom says.
For people with diabetes, medical consultations often involve a long discussion and a battery of tests focused on potential complications. Lovblom wondered if his mathematical models could provide a more personalized experience.
The research funding from this award will allow him to create models aimed at predicting the probable areas of greatest risk in individuals with diabetes. “This work could help simplify clinical visits for people with diabetes,” he says. “For example, if the model says your five-year predicted probability of retinopathy is 1%, but your five-year predicted probability of neuropathy is 20%, the focus of that visit could be more on the neuropathy side. Instead of discussing eye treatment at length, the healthcare provider could prioritize a foot exam.”
Finding ways to use mathematics to help people with diabetes, like himself, live longer, healthier lives is a key part of Lovblom’s work as a new investigator. He hopes it will be the trajectory he follows throughout his career.
In addition, he continues to support other research teams through his work in the Biostatistics department at the University Health Network in Toronto. He looks forward to being part of the Network for Healthy Populations and sharing his research outcomes throughout his Banting Award project term.
The 100th Anniversary Discovery of Insulin Banting Award celebrates researchers whose work continues the tradition of innovation that began with insulin's discovery in 1921.