Juleen Zierath is professor of clinical integrative physiology and head of the section of integrative physiology at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet. She is also appointed professor at the University of Copenhagen, where she is executive director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research.

Zierath’s research has revealed how insulin signalling is regulated in skeletal muscle and which steps in that process are impaired in type 2 diabetes. As an exercise physiologist, she has a long-standing interest in the health-promoting effects of physical activity, and her group also studies how the circadian clock shapes metabolism and the response to exercise. The goal of this work is to identify and validate molecular candidates to prevent or treat insulin resistance, since improving insulin sensitivity should alleviate complications and enrich the quality of life for people living with diabetes.

Zierath is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, EMBO, and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, where she chaired the Nobel Committee for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from 2013 to 2015. She has also served as a member and chair of the Board of Directors of Nobel Prize Outreach. She is past president of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, and serves on the Board of Directors of Keystone Symposia, which she previously chaired.