Louis Block Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medicine, and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. He received his B.Sc. degree in zoology and M.Sc. degree in biology from the University of Calgary, Canada. He earned his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco, where he also did his postdoctoral research. Before moving to the University of Chicago, Dr. Bell served as Senior Scientist at the Chiron Corporation. He has received a number of awards for his work, including the Out-standing Scientific Achievement Award from the American Diabetes Association, the Rolf Luft Award from the Swedish Medical Society, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Calgary, the Gerold and Kayla Grodsky Basic Research Scientist Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, the Naomi Berri Award for Outstan-ding Achievement in Diabetes Research from Columbia University, and the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine. Dr. Bell is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.