Clinician Investigator, Associate Professor Endocrine Division, Mass General Research Institute

Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

Associate Physician Neuroendocrine, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Harvard Medical School 2002

MMSc Harvard Medical School 2010

anorexia nervosa; appetite; arginine vasopressin; eating disoders; ghrelin; hormones; hypopituitarism; hypothalamic diseases; obesity; oxytocin; peptide yy

Dr. Elizabeth A. Lawson, M.D., M.M.Sc., is a practicing endocrinologist in the Neuroendocrine and Pituitary Clinical Center and Director of the Interdisciplinary Oxytocin Research Program in the Neuroendocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Associate Director of the NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard; and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is founding Director of the Harvard Interdisciplinary Oxytocin Research Initiative and a founding Principal Investigator of the Mass General Brigham Multidisciplinary Eating Disorder Collaborative. Dr. Lawson received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her Medical and Master in Medical Sciences degrees from Harvard Medical School. She completed her internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship training at MGH. Dr. Lawson has received continuous NIH funding since 2010 for her research focusing on the connection between hormones, neurocircuitry, psychology, behavior and metabolism in humans across a spectrum of weights and eating disorders. Dr. Lawson is internationally recognized for seminal translational contributions to the field of oxytocin research in humans. Her multidisciplinary research program uses novel approaches to investigate the effects and underlying mechanisms of oxytocin in human health and disease (e.g., hypopituitarism, obesity, binge eating disorder, autism) with the goal of advancing oxytocin-based therapeutics in clinical care. She has authored more than 100 original research publications and 20 chapters or review articles. Her research accomplishments have been recognized by numerous awards and election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation. She is also a dedicated mentor who received an NIH K24 award to mentor trainees in cross-disciplinary patient-oriented research, co-founded the MGH Endocrine/Neuroendocrine Visiting URiM Scholar Program, and received the 2022 Harvard Medical School A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award.