Cushing Syndrome

Dr. Stratakis was named Scientific Director of the NICHD in 2011, after serving as Acting Scientific Director of the NICHD since 2009. He received his M.D. and Doctor of Medical Sciences degrees from the National and Capodistrian University of Athens. He did predoctoral work at the Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Experimental Pharmacology at the same University, and at Hospital Cochin, Paris, France, before joining the Developmental Endocrinology Branch of the then National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, first as a student, and then as a postdoctoral fellow in 1988. In 1990, he continued his post-graduate medical education at Georgetown University Medical School, Washington, D.C., where he finished a residency in pediatrics and two fellowships in pediatric endocrinology (as part of the NICHD/Georgetown training program) and in medical genetics and clinical dysmorphology. He is Board certified in pediatrics, pediatric endocrinology, and medical genetics. Dr. Stratakis identified the genes for Carney complex and Carney-Stratakis syndrome, and other genetic defects leading to adrenal and other tumors, and he and his laboratory have published extensively in the fields of pediatric inherited disorders and cancer genetics, and on other pediatric adrenal and pituitary disorders. He is the author of more than 300 publications and has served as a regular reviewer. He is the author or co-author of nearly 600 publications, and has served as a regular reviewer for more than 100 journals, including Science, Nature Genetics, and the New England Journal of Medicine; he is currently Deputy Editor of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the leading journal in Endocrinology. He has been the recipient of the 1999 Pharmacia-Endocrine Society Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research, and NIH Merit Awards, and named Visiting Professor in academic centers around the world. In 2009, he was awarded the Ernst Oppenheimer Award of the Endocrine Society.

1. ?Identification of Cushing syndrome (CS) and its history from Harvey Cushing to today
2. Exogenous CS (iatrogenic): most frequent uses of glucocorticoids and outcomes, including recommendations for recovery (post-chemotherapy, asthma treatments, chronic use on rheumatoid and/or skeletal disorders)
3. Endogenous CS: causes and genetics
4. CS and malingering: Munchausen syndrome and Muncausen-by-proxy: cases, diagnosis, and outcomes
5. Non-tumorous functional hypercortisolemia (pseudo-CS): causes and long-term issues
6. Cushing disease: pituitary tumors causing CS: genetics, molecular advances, diagnosis, and treatment
7. Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling: to do or not to do
8. CRH test: to do or not to do
9. All about dexamethasone testing in CS
10. ACTH-independent CS: adrenal tumors causing CS: genetics, molecular advances, diagnosis, and treatment
11. Ectopic ACTH or CRH-producing tumors and CS: genetics, syndromes, molecular advances, diagnosis, and treatment
12. Animal models of CS: what do they teach us?
13. Medical therapies for CS
14. Surgical issues for a patient with CS: techniques, complications, and recovery
15. The patient with CS: perspectives written by patients; resources for patients
16. Cortisol exposure and mental health
17. CS and long-term effects on health, cognition, and function