Interview Video: Kathryn E. Wellen, Ph.D., Recipient of 2023 Sable Award

In a newly released video from Sable Systems International, Dr. Kathryn E. Wellen provides her thoughts on being named the inaugural winner of The Sable Award for outstanding contributions to the field of metabolic physiology. “I’m incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Dr. Wellen. “I am so pleased to see the hard work of my lab members from over the years be recognized in this way.” Dr. Wellen was presented the award and $20,000 honorarium at the first annual Metabolic Physiology Meeting (#METPHYS) held May 1-4 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

In the video, Dr. Wellen also gives her impressions of the #METPHYS meeting and its potential going forward. “It brought together investigators from all different fields of metabolism research, from immunometabolism to cancer metabolism,” she said. “We’ve all learned a lot by that cross-fertilization of ideas. This meeting really has the potential to become one of the premiere meetings – one of the must-go-to meetings – in the metabolic physiology field.”

The meeting organizer, Dr. Phillip White, stated that Dr. Wellen will also have the honor of being part of the selection team for next year’s Sable Award, to be announced at the 2024 Metabolic Physiology Meeting.  For more information about the 2024 Metabolic Physiology Meeting, please contact phillip.white@duke.edu.

About Sable

Sable Systems International is the worldwide leader in systems for measuring metabolism and behavior in a wide range of research models. The company is committed to supporting the continual improvement of science in the arena of metabolic and behavioral phenotyping.

Christina Schlazer, Sable Systems: Hi Katy, congratulations on winning the Sable award this year at the Metphys meeting. So, how’s everything going? How have you been enjoying the meeting?

Kathryn Wellen, PhD: Great! Well, first I’m incredibly honored to receive this award. I am just so pleased to see the hard work of my lab members from over the years be recognized in this way. It’s really such an honor. And this has been a really incredible meeting. I’ve enjoyed the talks from start to finish and learned so much at this meeting. I think what I really liked about it was it brought together investigators from all different fields of metabolism research from immuno-metabolism to cancer metabolism – all different areas of metabolic physiology and I think it has just been…I think we’ve all learned a lot by that cross-fertilization of ideas.

Christina Schlazer, Sable Systems: Speaking of the cross fertilization of ideas how has it been interacting with colleagues and networking?

Kathryn Wellen, PhD: Oh perfect. Actually, the size of the meeting is perfect for that; it’s not too big but there’s a critical mass of people here and it’s really perfect for getting to talk to whoever you would like to talk to. It’s really easy to approach a speaker after a talk or catch somebody at their poster or at one of the dinners or happy hours. I think this meeting really has the potential to become one of the premier meetings – one of the must-go-to meetings – in the metabolic physiology field. I think the feedback I’ve heard from different participants in the meeting has been so positive, I think it’s good. The attendance is just going to grow in the coming years, and I think people will really be excited to come to this meeting moving forward.