Dr. Max Petersen joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipid Research as an Instructor as of July 2023. Dr. Petersen was born in Evanston, IL and grew up in the Chicago area. He majored in biochemistry, religion, and pre-medical studies at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, and then earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Yale. He then went on to complete an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (Physician-Scientist Pathway) and a fellowship in Endocrinology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis (Physician-Scientist Training Program). As a physician-scientist, Dr. Petersen is broadly interested in the mechanisms linking common metabolic diseases such as obesity, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
He is conducting mentored research with Samuel Klein, MD, in the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University. Dr. Petersen has been honored with the Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Award for patient care by the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. His clinical areas of focus include obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases. Dr. Petersen is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society, and The Obesity Society. He is an editorial board fellow for the Journal of Physiology. His research has been recognized with awards from Yale School of Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the American Physician Scientists Association, and The Obesity Society.