Donald F. Steiner

Donald Frederick Steiner (July 15, 1930 – November 11, 2014) was an American biochemist and a professor at the University of Chicago.

Birth and education Donald F. Steiner was born in 1930 in Lima, Ohio. He completed his B.S. in Chemistry and Zoology from the University of Cincinnati in 1952. He completed his M.S. in biochemistry and his M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1956. In 1967, he published his discovery of proinsulin, precursor to the active hormone insulin. He and his colleagues discovered some of the enzymes that convert proinsulin into insulin, and also devised methods for measuring insulin and its precursors in human serum.

Awards In 1970 he received the Ernst Oppenheimer Award for the Endocrine Society In 1971 he received the Canada Gairdner International Award In 1976 he received the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association In 1984/5, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine for "his discoveries concerning the bio-synthesis and processing of insulin which have had profound implications for basic biology and clinical medicine". In 1993, he received an honorary doctorate from the faculty of medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden In 2004, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society In 2014, he received the University of Chicago Alumni Medal