at Barnes Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO). After his completion of endocrinology training in 1969, he served in the U.S. Navy at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, MD, until 1971. After that, he returned to Barnes Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he has spent his entire career.

Cryer rose to leadership positions at the Washington University School of Medicine. He was director of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (1985--2002), director of the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) for decades, and associate director of the Diabetes Research Center (2002--2014), among other roles. To his great credit, he led the GCRC through six successful competitive renewal applications to the National Institutes of Health over a period spanning33 years. Cryer was named the Irene E. and Michael M. Karl Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism in Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis in 1995, a position he held until he became emeritus in 2014. Despite the numerous demands on his time, Cryer's major focus has been on patient-oriented, translational research. His research training in the late 1960s included experiences in both clinical research and then--state-of-the-art basic research. His first research publication, with Dr. Daughaday, was on the regulation of growth hormone secretion ([@B1]); his second article (with Drs. Jarett and Kipnis), titled "Nucleotide Inhibition of Adenyl Cyclase Activity in Fat Cell Membranes" ([@B2]), antedated the discovery of G proteins. Cryer's independent research work coalesced around the sympathoadrenal system, glucose counterregulation, and hypoglycemia in general. In