Joseph Schlessinger
Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D. is Chair of the Pharmacology Department at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. His area of research is Tyrosine phosphorylation which potentially plays a role in the treatment of several different types of cancer.
Academic Positions
Joseph Schlessinger has been the William H. Prusoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine since 2001. According to his website, prior to coming to Yale, Joseph Schlessinger was the Director of the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at New York University (NYU) Medical Center from 1998–2001 and the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Medical School from 1990–2001. He was a member of the faculty of the Weizmann Institute from 1978–1991. [1]
Publications and Research
According to PubMed, Joseph Schlessinger has authored over 400 scientific review articles and original publications in the area of pharmacology. Joseph Schlessinger is an expert in the area of tyrosine kinase. Tyrosine kinase phosphorylation plays a critical role in the control of many cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, as well as cell survival and migration. [2]
Personal life
Joseph Schlesinger was born March 26, 1945, in the village of Topusko in Yugoslavia. [3] Joseph Schlessinger is married to Irit Lax who he appointed as an assistant professor in his Department at shortly after becoming chairman. It is unclear what degree she holds or the exact focus of research according to her website, [4] but PubMed shows that she has authored approximately 130 publications, many of them with Joseph Schlessinger. Irit Lax has been working for Joseph Schlessinger since she was a graduate student in Israel in the early 1980s. They are a couple now. Each has two children from a previous marriage. [5]
Sunitinib Controversy
Joseph Schlessinger claims to have come up with the idea of combining an antibody with a chemotherapy agent and founded the drug company Sugen (which was eventually absorbed by Sanofi Aventis and then by ImClone) with the idea of developing this idea. Joseph Schlessinger's colleagues at the Weizmann Institute in Israel claimed to have come up with this concept first and the case was taken to a district court in the United States. Joseph Schlessinger gave testimony in court that stated the mechanism of the drug was his idea alone. In a Money Magazine article Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald all but accused Joseph Schlessinger of purging himself. To be exact, Judge Buchwald dismissed Joseph Schlessinger's testimony as "'not credible,' 'contorted,' 'incredible' and 'wholly unsubstantiated by any contemporaneous records.'" [6] The verdict of this case went against Joseph Schlessinger who has not made any written response to these allegations. This case was best remembered as the stock collapse that helped land Sam Waksal and Martha Stewart in jail. [7]
Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
The complaint, Mary Beth Garceau v. Yale, alleged Joseph Schlessinger bragged about the number of women he had slept with, claiming the number came to 46, told jokes about his penis size and commented on the size of her breasts and style of her underwear and showed her hard-core pornography. [8] [9] [10]
One incident Garceau describes happened while she was trying to schedule an appointment. Schlessinger was angry that a committee had rejected the person he had recommended for a job at the Yale Cancer Center, she says. When she asked him about scheduling a meeting with the director, he answered:
"(Expletive) them, I am not meeting with them," the lawsuit says.
"(Expletive) them?"
He answered with: "I bet it would be fun to (expletive) you." [11]
In another incident, Mary Beth Garceau claims he once showed her pornography on his university computer, and another time, pulled a picture from his desk showing a naked woman without a head and told her it was his wife. At that moment, Schlessinger's wife happened to walk into the office, saw the picture and started yelling at her husband in another language. [12]
Mary Beth Garceau claims that Yale University did nothing to stop the harassment despite her frequent complaints. The complaint further claims that Yale University refused to address her concerns when she brought the situation to the attention of University officials, forcing her to resign because of the situation. A spokesperson for Yale University initially told the Yale Daily News in an intervew that "they'll fight the suit in court." [13] Several months later on however, the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. [14]
References
- ^ Schlessinger's personal website at Yale University
- ^ Schlessinger Lab: Biography
- ^ The long war
- ^ Schlessinger Lab: Biography
- ^ The long war
- ^ Bruised ImClone takes another hit
- ^ ImClone's next headache: The biotech appears likely to lose a patent trial involving Erbitux, its lucrative cancer drug and sole product.
- ^ Yale Pharmacology Head In Harassment Suit (Hartford Courant)
- ^ Yale Pharmacology Prof May Be Good at Researching Cancer Drugs, Not How He Treats Women
- ^ Harassment by Renowned Researcher Prompts Suit Against Yale
- ^ Yale Pharmacology Head In Harassment Suit (Hartford Courant)
- ^ Yale Pharmacology Head In Harassment Suit (Hartford Courant)
- ^ Univ. faces harassment lawsuit
- ^ Yale University Settles Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
- Yale School of Medicine appoints Joseph Schlessinger, formerly of NYU, Pharmacology Chair., M2 Presswire, 05-JUN-01.
- YALE RESEARCHER SHARES $1 MILLION PRIZE
- http://www.med.yale.edu/pharm/chairman/biography.htm
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