Mumbai-based endocrinologist Shashank Joshi has been conferred the prestigious Hossein Gharib Educational Lectureship. (Express)Mumbai-based endocrinologist Shashank Joshi, Consultant at Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre and a Padma Shri awardee, has been conferred the prestigious Hossein Gharib Educational Lectureship at the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE 2026), held in Las Vegas from April 22 to 24.The Hossein Gharib Educational Lectureship is among AACE’s most prestigious honours, awarded to globally recognised endocrinologists for outstanding contributions to clinical research, education, and advances in endocrine care. Dr Joshi is among around 20 endocrinologists honoured at this year’s meeting and is the first recipient of the lectureship from outside the United States.The AACE annual meeting, one of the largest global gatherings of clinical endocrinologists, brought together thousands of specialists to deliberate on advances in endocrine and metabolic health.This year’s theme, ‘Viva Nutrition! Advancing Endocrine Practice from the Inside Out’, focused on the role of nutrition in preventing and managing chronic conditions such as thyroid disorders, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidaemia.Delivering his lecture on the “Impact of Iodine on Thyroid Autoimmunity, Goiter and Oncogenesis”, Dr Joshi underlined the critical importance of thyroid health and its role as a balancer. “Iodine has a very narrow window, both deficiency and excess can lead to thyroid disorders such as autoimmune hypothyroidism (swelling of thyroid gland), goiter, nodules and even cancer,” he said.“Thyroid diseases and cancer are on the rise due to better surveillance and screening but also due to iodine intake not being tightly balanced,” Dr Joshi said.He also pointed to the role of hormone-disrupting factors, including plastics, tooth paste, certain chemical exposures and gut microbiome interactions, in contributing to thyroid disorders when coupled with iodine imbalance.Calling the recognition a “profound honour”, Dr Joshi said his lecture sought to highlight a fundamental principle in medicine.Story continues below this ad“In thyroid physiology, dose is biology, iodine, from deficiency to excess, follows a delicate balance influencing disease. Balance is the essence of harmony, and harmony is the basis of health,” he said.Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Joshi said, “At the prestigious AACE 2026 platform in Las Vegas, delivering the Hossein Gharib Educational Lectureship was more than a scientific milestone, it was a moment of reflection. Beyond the data, the lecture was also about rethinking how we view disease, not just as a biochemical imbalance but as a reflection of broader disruptions in lifestyle and environment. The thyroid, in many ways, teaches us that extremes are unsustainable, and that both deficiency and excess, whether in iodine or in life, can lead to dysfunction. As clinicians, we must look beyond numbers and focus on restoring overall balance in the patient.”What is becoming increasingly clear is that thyroid disorders today are not driven by a single factor, but by a complex interplay of nutrition, environmental exposures, and lifestyle changes, he added.“From iodine intake to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, we are seeing how modern living-reshaping disease patterns are. The challenge for clinicians is to integrate this understanding into more holistic, patient-centred care,” he said.Story continues below this adDr Joshi linked this to the larger idea of well-being. “The thyroid, in its quiet way, reminds us: regulation is life…and so, medicine must evolve — not by abandoning science, but by deepening it. By recognizing that physiology is not separate from philosophy. That homeostasis is not just a biological state, but a way of living.”