About Dr. Robert F. Furchgott
Dr. Robert Fuchgott is a remarkable scientist who has made major contributions to understanding cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology. An outstanding researcher, Dr. Furchgott was co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for uncovering the extraordinary role that NO – nitric oxide – plays in the regulation of cardiovascular function.
Today, legions of scientists from around the world are building on Dr. Furchgott’s discoveries to understand and find new treatments for heart and vascular diseases, as well as to understand the role of nitric oxide in a host of other conditions ranging from immune disorders to degenerative memory loss, pulmonary disease, and sexual dysfunction.
Previously, no one had suspected that this simple molecule could play such an important physiological role. Dr. Furchgott was the first to discover that the body produces this substance, and that it causes blood vessels to relax. Because nitric oxide affects so many physiological processes in the body, the impact of Dr. Furchgott’s research is enormous.
For example, doctors are using inhaled nitric oxide to help premature babies breathe when their lungs are not adequately absorbing oxygen. Researchers have already developed medications that harness nitric oxide’s ability to dilate the blood vessels involved with sexual response.
Many cardiac diseases – including hypertension – appear to involve changes in the body’s production of, or responsiveness to, nitric oxide. That’s why nitroglycerine, which replenishes nitric oxide, works for angina pain. Currently, doctors are working to develop powerful heart medications based on nitric oxide’s role as a signaling molecule.
Little wonder that Science magazine proclaimed nitric oxide “Molecule of the Year” in 1992, or that Dr. Furchgott has received world-wide recognition and been awarded medicine’s most prestigious prize.
Dr. Furchgott earned his BS degree in chemistry at the University of North Carolina in 1937, and his PhD in biochemistry at Northwestern University in 1940. In 1956, after doing distinguished research at a number of universities, he became founding chairman of SUNY Downstate’s Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Furchgott conducted all of his Nobel Prize-winning work in his laboratory on SUNY Downstate’s campus in Brooklyn. Today, though formally retired, the distinguished professor emeritus continues to work in his laboratory to pursue new lines of investigation.
Please make a gift to the Robert F. Furchgott, PhD, Chair in Pharmacology or
the Robert Furchgott Society using our Giving Online page.
|
450 Clarkson Ave / Brooklyn, NY 11203
Box 93 / Tel: 718 270-4418
|
INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT & PHILANTHROPY
|
|
