On April 23, 2003, Dr. Vincent Poitout at the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation won the Thomas R. Lee Award from the American Diabetes Association. Dr. Poitout was recruited as Principal Scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle in 1998.

In 2005, Dr Poitout was recruited as Associate Professor of Medicine, Nutrition, and Biochemistry at the University of Montreal with his laboratory located within the Montreal Diabetes Research Center.