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Andrew Schally

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Andrew Schally
Schally in 2000
Born
Andrzej Viktor Schally

(1926-11-30)30 November 1926[citation needed]
Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania)
Died17 October 2024(2024-10-17) (aged 97)
Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
NationalityPolish[1][2]
Canadian
American[3]
EducationMcGill University
Medical career
ProfessionMedicine
Institutions
Sub-specialtiesEndocrinology
Awards

Andrzej Viktor "Andrew" Schally (30 November 1926 – 17 October 2024) was a Polish-American endocrinologist who was a co-recipient, with Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[1][2][4] This award recognized his research in the discovery that the hypothalamus controls hormone production and release by the pituitary gland, which controls the regulation of other hormones in the body.[5] Later in life, Schally utilized his knowledge of hypothalamic hormones to research possible methods for birth control and cancer treatment.

Life and career

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Andrzej Wiktor Schally[6] was born in Wilno in the Second Polish Republic[1][2][4] (now Vilnius, Lithuania), the son of Brigadier General Kazimierz Schally, who was chief of the cabinet of President Ignacy Mościcki of Poland, and Maria (née Łącka).

In September 1939, when Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Schally escaped with Poland's President Ignacy Mościcki, the prime minister and the whole cabinet to the neutral Romania, where they were interned [citation needed].

I was fortunate to survive the holocaust while living among the Jewish-Polish Community in Roumania. I used to speak Polish, Roumanian, Yiddish, Italian and some German and Russian, but I have almost completely forgotten them, and my French in which I used to excel is also now far from fluent.[2]

Immediately after the war, in 1945, Schally moved via Italy and France to the United Kingdom[2] where he changed his first name to Andrew.[6] Schally received his education in Scotland and England.[2] In 1952, he moved to Canada. He received his doctorate in endocrinology from McGill University in 1957.[2] That same year he left for a research career in the United States where he has worked principally at Tulane University.[2] Schally conducted research in endocrinology at the Miami Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Miami, Florida.[citation needed] A Canadian citizen when he left Canada, Schally became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1962.[2] He was affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine for some years in Houston, Texas.[2]

Schally developed a new realm of knowledge concerning the brain's control over the body chemistry. Schally explained in his 1977 Nobel Lecture that he, alongside his researchers, dissected 250,000 pig hypothalami in order to isolate 5 mg of the hormone thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) to determine the molecular structure of the hormone.[7] His work also addressed birth control methods and the effects of growth hormones on the body. Together with Roger Guillemin he described the neurohormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) that controls follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), two hormones that are integral parts of reproduction and growth and development.

Schally received an honoris causa doctors degree from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Recognized as a Fellow of the Kosciuszko Foundation of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry.[8]

Schally was married to Margaret Rachel White (divorced), and Ana Maria de Medeiros-Comaru.[4] He died at his home in Miami Beach, Florida, on 17 October 2024, at the age of 97.[9][10]

Cancer research

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In 1981, it was demonstrated that the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonistic analogs that Schally had developed between the years of 1972 and 1978 inhibited the growth of prostate cancer in rats. Alongside Dr. George Tolis, Schally conducted the first clinical trial of GnRH for patients with advanced prostate cancer in 1982. This method is now the preferred treatment for advanced prostate carcinoma. About 70% of patients with prostate cancer receive an agonist as their primary method of treatment.[7] According to Schally, his treatment causes fewer side effects than radiation and chemotherapy.[7] The previous method of treatment, orchiectomy or the administration of estrogens, was based on the research of Charles Brenton Huggins.

In 2004, after the death of his wife due to thyroid cancer, Schally found comfort in continuing his research.[7]

Awards and honors

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References

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Scholia has an author profile for Andrew Schally.
  1. ^ a b c Andrew V. Schally, "Andrew V. Schally", Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Andrew V. Schally – Autobiography". www.nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 14 August 2006.
  3. ^ Bernard S. Schlessinger, June H. Schlessinger. The who's who of Nobel Prize winners, 1901–1995. Onyx Press. 1996. p. 372.
  4. ^ a b c "Andrew V. Schally Biography (1926–)".
  5. ^ "Nobel laureate not one to rest on his laurels".
  6. ^ a b Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm. Love for Family, Friends, and Books. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. p. 246. ISBN 9780761865698
  7. ^ a b c d Schally, Andrew (8 December 1977). "ASPECTS OF HYPOTHALAMIC REGULATION OF THE PITUITARY GLAND WITH MAJOR EMPHASIS ON ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CONTROL OF REPRODUCTIVE PROCESSES" (PDF). The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Kosciuszko Foundation – American Center of Polish culture – Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry". Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  9. ^ Murphy, Brian (20 October 2024). "Andrew Schally, shared Nobel for brain-hormone links, dies at 97". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Dr. Andrew Schally, Former Tulane Endocrinologist and Nobel Laureate, dies at 97". Tulane University School of Medicine. 18 October 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Van Meter Award". American Thyroid Association. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  12. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.

Sources

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