(Vienna, July 1, 2025) On July 1, 2025, Thomas Scherer will take up a professorship in the field of Endocrinology and Metabolism (§ 99(4)) at the Medical University of Vienna. The clinical focus of the deputy head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Department of Medicine III is on the treatment of congenital metabolic diseases in adulthood. Thomas Scherer's research aims to find new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, lipodystrophy, and type 2 diabetes, and to investigate changes in metabolism during the aging process.
As head of the Outpatient Clinic for Inherited Metabolic Diseases in Adulthood at the Department of Medicine III at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, Thomas Scherer works closely with colleagues from the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine to ensure continuous care for patients after they reach the age of 18 and to optimize transition to adult medicine.
As head of a research laboratory at the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Thomas Scherer and his team are investigating hormonal signaling in the context of interorgan crosstalk, with a particular interest in the communication between the brain, liver, and adipose tissue focusing on the regulation of nutrient partitioning and energy metabolism. In this context, the research group has, for example, characterized new physiological regulatory pathways between the brain and the liver and discovered that insulin and leptin can control hepatic lipid metabolism via the central nervous system and protect against steatotic liver disease. These novel findings, which have been investigated in both animal models and humans, have the potential to provide new therapeutic avenues for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease), and rare diseases associated with leptin deficiency such as lipodystrophy.
Another focus of the research laboratory is on how the aging process influences metabolic flexibility, persisting metabolic changes after obesity ("obesity memory") and nutrient partitioning in the body. These questions are being investigated in collaboration with researchers from the University of Graz and MedUni Graz as part of the FWF-funded cluster of excellence "Metabolic Control of Aging and Disease – MetAGE". The aim is to explore the relationship between metabolism and healthy aging in order to extend the lifespan spent in good health.
About the person
Thomas Scherer completed his medical degree at the Medical University of Vienna in 2007. After a research fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and a doctorate at the University of Lübeck, he completed his habilitation at MedUni Vienna in 2017, where he took over as deputy head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Department of Medicine III in 2020. In addition to his clinical and scientific work, Scherer is also module coordinator for the Master's program in Molecular Precision Medicine at MedUni Vienna. He is a member of numerous professional societies and currently serves as president of the Austrian Society for Endocrinology and Metabolism and has received many prestigious grants and awards for his research.