Stephen O’Rahilly

94.5k total citations · 19 hit papers
429 papers, 46.8k citations indexed

About

Stephen O’Rahilly is a scholar working on Molecular Biology, Physiology and Endocrine and Autonomic Systems. According to data from OpenAlex, Stephen O’Rahilly has authored 429 papers receiving a total of 46.8k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 195 papers in Molecular Biology, 144 papers in Physiology and 117 papers in Endocrine and Autonomic Systems. Recurrent topics in Stephen O’Rahilly's work include Regulation of Appetite and Obesity (117 papers), Adipose Tissue and Metabolism (111 papers) and Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer (77 papers). Stephen O’Rahilly is often cited by papers focused on Regulation of Appetite and Obesity (117 papers), Adipose Tissue and Metabolism (111 papers) and Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer (77 papers). Stephen O’Rahilly collaborates with scholars based in United Kingdom, United States and France. Stephen O’Rahilly's co-authors include I. Sadaf Farooqi, Julia M. Keogh, Giles S.H. Yeo, Elizabeth Montague, Johannes B. Prins, Nicholas J. Wareham, David B. Savage, Susan A. Jebb, Anthony P. Coll and Maria A. Soos and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and New England Journal of Medicine.

In The Last Decade

Stephen O’Rahilly

425 papers receiving 45.5k citations

Hit Papers

Congenital leptin deficiency is associated with severe ea... 1997 2026 2006 2016 1997 2003 1999 2003 1999 500 1000 1.5k 2.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Congenital leptin deficiency is associated with severe early-onset obesity in humans
    1997 2.2k citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Jonathan P. Whitehead et al. profile →
  2. The GPR54 Gene as a Regulator of Puberty
    2003 1.9k citations Stephanie B. Seminara, Sophie Messager et al. profile →
  3. Effects of Recombinant Leptin Therapy in a Child with Congenital Leptin Deficiency
    1999 1.4k citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  4. Clinical Spectrum of Obesity and Mutations in the Melanocortin 4 Receptor Gene
    2003 1.2k citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Julia M. Keogh et al. profile →
  5. Dominant negative mutations in human PPARγ associated with severe insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus and hypertension
    1999 1.1k citations Inês Barroso, Maria A. Soos et al. profile →
  6. Beneficial effects of leptin on obesity, T cell hyporesponsiveness, and neuroendocrine/metabolic dysfunction of human congenital leptin deficiency
    2002 1.0k citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Julia M. Keogh et al. Journal of Clinical Investigation profile →
  7. Beneficial effects of leptin on obesity, T cell hyporesponsiveness, and neuroendocrine/metabolic dysfunction of human congenital leptin deficiency
    2002 854 citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Julia M. Keogh et al. Journal of Clinical Investigation profile →
  8. International Union of Pharmacology. LXI. Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors
    2006 813 citations Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  9. Obesity and impaired prohormone processing associated with mutations in the human prohormone convertase 1 gene
    1997 767 citations Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  10. TAC3 and TACR3 mutations in familial hypogonadotropic hypogonadism reveal a key role for Neurokinin B in the central control of reproduction
    2008 658 citations Frank Reimann, Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  11. Resistin / Fizz3 Expression in Relation to Obesity and Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor-γ Action in Humans
    2001 620 citations David B. Savage, Ciaran Sewter et al. profile →
  12. Dominant and recessive inheritance of morbid obesity associated with melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency
    2000 583 citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Giles S.H. Yeo et al. Journal of Clinical Investigation profile →
  13. The perils of portliness: causes and consequences of visceral adiposity.
    2000 549 citations Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  14. Genetics of body-weight regulation
    2000 548 citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  15. LMNA, encoding lamin A/C, is mutated in partial lipodystrophy
    2000 546 citations Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  16. Trophoblast organoids as a model for maternal–fetal interactions during human placentation
    2018 476 citations Richard G. Kay, Frank Reimann et al. profile →
  17. Associations between body-mass index and COVID-19 severity in 6·9 million people in England: a prospective, community-based, cohort study
    2021 324 citations Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →
  18. Loss-of-Function Mutation in the Dioxygenase-Encoding FTO Gene Causes Severe Growth Retardation and Multiple Malformations
    2009 294 citations Giles S.H. Yeo, Vladimı́r Saudek et al. profile →
  19. The energy balance model of obesity: beyond calories in, calories out
    2022 179 citations I. Sadaf Farooqi, Stephen O’Rahilly et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Stephen O’Rahilly United Kingdom 108 16.7k 16.2k 14.4k 9.8k 8.1k 429 46.8k
Jeffrey S. Flier United States 137 22.6k 1.4× 28.4k 1.7× 25.4k 1.8× 19.8k 2.0× 6.2k 0.8× 314 80.7k
Jeffrey M. Friedman United States 87 11.5k 0.7× 21.1k 1.3× 28.4k 2.0× 15.8k 1.6× 3.7k 0.5× 209 53.0k
Stephen R. Bloom United Kingdom 137 19.6k 1.2× 23.5k 1.4× 28.8k 2.0× 7.6k 0.8× 3.9k 0.5× 1.1k 79.9k
Michael W. Schwartz United States 111 7.3k 0.4× 19.1k 1.2× 27.5k 1.9× 7.6k 0.8× 2.1k 0.3× 291 45.7k
Rudolph L. Leibel United States 81 9.4k 0.6× 17.5k 1.1× 7.9k 0.6× 13.2k 1.3× 3.2k 0.4× 270 37.9k
Kazuwa Nakao Japan 106 14.9k 0.9× 10.8k 0.7× 8.2k 0.6× 5.9k 0.6× 3.0k 0.4× 863 50.3k
Rexford S. Ahima United States 80 6.9k 0.4× 13.8k 0.9× 13.9k 1.0× 10.4k 1.1× 1.7k 0.2× 238 32.2k
Philippe Froguel France 93 13.2k 0.8× 10.7k 0.7× 6.0k 0.4× 8.7k 0.9× 11.8k 1.5× 529 37.3k
C. Ronald Kahn United States 143 36.9k 2.2× 26.6k 1.6× 5.5k 0.4× 13.6k 1.4× 7.4k 0.9× 515 74.9k
Felipe F. Casanueva Spain 97 5.4k 0.3× 10.7k 0.7× 11.2k 0.8× 5.7k 0.6× 1.9k 0.2× 629 35.9k

Countries citing papers authored by Stephen O’Rahilly

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Stephen O’Rahilly's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Stephen O’Rahilly with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Stephen O’Rahilly more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Stephen O’Rahilly

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Stephen O’Rahilly. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Stephen O’Rahilly. The network helps show where Stephen O’Rahilly may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Stephen O’Rahilly

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Stephen O’Rahilly. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Stephen O’Rahilly based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Stephen O’Rahilly. Stephen O’Rahilly is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Lockhart, Sam, Yajie Zhao, Vladimı́r Saudek, et al.. (2025). Rare Variants in HTRA1, SGTB, and RBM12 Confer Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Independent of Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Circulation Genomic and Precision Medicine. 18(6). e005233–e005233.
2.
Kolnes, Kristoffer J., Per Bendix Jeppesen, Øyvind Skattebo, et al.. (2025). Effects of seven days’ fasting on physical performance and metabolic adaptation during exercise in humans. Nature Communications. 16(1). 122–122. 13 indexed citations
3.
Pietzner, Maik, Kristoffer J. Kolnes, Per Bendix Jeppesen, et al.. (2024). Systemic proteome adaptions to 7-day complete caloric restriction in humans. Nature Metabolism. 6(4). 764–777. 20 indexed citations
4.
Breit, Samuel N. & Stephen O’Rahilly. (2024). Humans without GDF15 reassure drug developers. Nature Metabolism. 6(10). 1850–1851. 1 indexed citations
5.
Goff, Louise M., et al.. (2023). Ethnic differences in complement system biomarkers and their association with metabolic health in men of Black African and White European ethnicity. Clinical & Experimental Immunology. 212(1). 52–60. 3 indexed citations
6.
Karusheva, Yanislava, Alexander Mörseburg, Peter Barker, et al.. (2022). The Common H202D Variant in GDF-15 Does Not Affect Its Bioactivity but Can Significantly Interfere with Measurement of Its Circulating Levels. The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine. 7(6). 1388–1400. 19 indexed citations
7.
Kirwan, Peter, Richard G. Kay, Bas Brouwers, et al.. (2018). Quantitative mass spectrometry for human melanocortin peptides in vitro and in vivo suggests prominent roles for β-MSH and desacetyl α-MSH in energy homeostasis. Molecular Metabolism. 17. 82–97. 20 indexed citations
8.
Larder, Rachel, Pawan Gulati, Robin Antrobus, et al.. (2017). Obesity-associated gene TMEM18 has a role in the central control of appetite and body weight regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114(35). 9421–9426. 49 indexed citations
9.
Novoselova, T. V., Rachel Larder, Debra Rimmington, et al.. (2016). Loss of Mrap2 is associated with Sim1 deficiency and increased circulating cholesterol. Journal of Endocrinology. 230(1). 13–26. 31 indexed citations
10.
Raffan, Eleanor, Stephen Smith, Stephen O’Rahilly, & Jane Wardle. (2015). Development, factor structure and application of the Dog Obesity Risk and Appetite (DORA) questionnaire. PeerJ. 3. e1278–e1278. 36 indexed citations
11.
Payne, Felicity, Rita Colnaghi, Nuno Rocha, et al.. (2014). Hypomorphism in human NSMCE2 linked to primordial dwarfism and insulin resistance. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 124(9). 4028–4038. 72 indexed citations
12.
Hussain, Khalid, Benjamin Challis, Nuno Rocha, et al.. (2011). An Activating Mutation of AKT2 and Human Hypoglycemia. Science. 334(6055). 474–474. 114 indexed citations
13.
Kis, Adrienn, Colin E. Murdoch, Min Zhang, et al.. (2009). Defective Peroxisomal Proliferators Activated Receptor Gamma Activity Due to Dominant-Negative Mutation Synergizes with Hypertension to Accelerate Cardiac Fibrosis in Mice. European Journal of Heart Failure. 11(6). 533–541. 33 indexed citations
14.
Smith, Adam J. de, Carolin Purmann, Robin Walters, et al.. (2009). Elucidating the aetiology of Prader-Willi syndrome: deletion of the HBII-85 class of snoRNA is associated with hyperphagia, obesity and hypogonadism. Journal of Medical Genetics. 46. 1 indexed citations
15.
Farooqi, I. Sadaf, Edward T. Bullmore, Julia M. Keogh, et al.. (2007). Leptin Regulates Striatal Regions and Human Eating Behavior. Science. 317(5843). 1355–1355. 446 indexed citations
16.
Laudes, Matthias, Constantinos Christodoulides, Ciaran Sewter, et al.. (2004). Role of the POZ zinc finger transcription factor FBI-1 in human and murine adipogenesis.. Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford). 1 indexed citations
17.
Seminara, Stephanie B., Sophie Messager, Emmanouella E. Chatzidaki, et al.. (2004). The GPR54 Gene as a Regulator of Puberty. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. 59(5). 351–353. 173 indexed citations
18.
Sewter, C P, J Digby, Fiona M. Blows, Johannes B. Prins, & Stephen O’Rahilly. (1999). Regulation of tumour necrosis factor-alpha release from human adipose tissue in vitro. Journal of Endocrinology. 163(1). 33–38. 121 indexed citations
19.
Whitehead, Jonathan P., et al.. (1997). Differential Signaling to Glycogen Synthesis by the Intracellular Domain of the Insulin versus the Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 Receptor. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 272(39). 24325–24332. 28 indexed citations
20.
O’Rahilly, Stephen. (1985). Secretion of antidiuretic hormone in hyponatraemia: not always "inappropriate".. BMJ. 290(6484). 1803–1804. 4 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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