Rate My Professor Sadaf Farooqi

Sadaf Farooqi, MB ChB (Hons), PhD, FRCP, FMedSci, FRS, is Professor of Metabolism and Medicine and Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge. She earned her medical degree from the University of Birmingham in 1993, Membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 1996, PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2001, and Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 2008. As a clinician-scientist and Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Addenbrooke's Hospital, she has pioneered research into the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying obesity and thinness. Her seminal discoveries include the first mutations causing severe human obesity, such as those disrupting leptin signalling and the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) pathway, revealing hyperphagia and impaired satiety as key drivers. Farooqi's group leads the Genetics of Obesity Study (GOOS) with over 7,000 participants and the Study Into the Legacy of Thinness (STILTS) with 4,000 individuals. This work has enabled precision diagnostics via the NHS Obesity Gene Panel and treatments like setmelanotide for rare genetic obesities.

Farooqi's impact extends to elucidating links between obesity genetics and hypertension, influencing global clinical practices and therapeutic development. Notable publications encompass "Tirzepatide leads to weight reduction in people with obesity due to MC4R deficiency" (Nature Medicine, 2025), "Glucagon Receptor Deficiency Causes Early-Onset Hepatic Steatosis" (Diabetes, 2025), "Loss of transient receptor potential channel 5 causes obesity and postpartum depression" (Cell, 2024), "Human loss-of-function variants in the Serotonin 2C receptor associated with obesity and maladaptive behaviour" (Nature Medicine, 2022), and "Obesity-Associated GNAS Mutations and the Melanocortin Pathway" (New England Journal of Medicine, 2021). She serves as NIHR Senior Investigator, Co-Director of the NIHR Cambridge Clinical Research Facility, and Professorial Fellow at Murray Edwards College. Awards include the Croonian Medal and Lecture (Royal Society, 2021, with Stephen O’Rahilly), Dale Medal (Society for Endocrinology, 2021), Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award (Endocrine Society, 2024), Gerald D. Aurbach Award (2026), FMedSci (2013), and FRS (2021).