Medicine Making News
A Timeline of Historical Achievements
Clinical Pharmocology
By the 1950s Weill Cornell Medical College was at the vanguard of solidifying clinical pharmacology - the study of the effect of drugs on the human body - as a specialized field in medicine. Since 1975, under the leadership of Division Chief Dr. Marcus M. Reidenberg, the Division of Clinical Pharmacology has thrived. This has included productive collaborations with the Department of Pharmacology. Weill Cornell was one of the first medical schools in the country to designate pharmacology as a separate department (1908).
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Harry Gold
- Pioneered the modern field of clinical pharmacology
- Established the double-blind, placebo-controlled design of modern clinical trials
- Pioneered the study of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
- With McKeen Cattell, demonstrated the ability of digitalis to increase the force of contraction during heart failure
- Coined the term "therapeutic efficacy." His studies in this area resulted in the removal of several ineffective and/or unsafe medications from the market
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McKeen Cattell
- With Harry Gold, elucidated the effects of digitalis on the heart
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Irving S. Wright
- Pioneered heparin and other anticoagulants to treat thrombophlebitis
- Instrumental in establishing the Basic Standard Nomenclature for Blood Clotting Factors, now used worldwide
- 1960, received Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for his work in anticoagulant drugs
- Founded the American Federation for Aging Research, now one of the largest sources of funding for geriatric research Click here to view Irving Wright's contribution in Vascular Biology
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Carl Muschenheim
- 1955, shared the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award with Walsh McDermott for developing isoniazid, a revolutionary drug that reduced the mortality rate of tuberculosis by 70%
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Walsh McDermott
- Developed new methods of administration for penicillin
- Elucidated how microbial persistence works
- With Walter Riker, discovered that the drug British anti-lewisite could be used to combat the deleterious effects of arsenic-based syphilis drugs
- 1955, shared the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award with Carl Muschenheim for developing isoniazid, a revolutionary drug that reduced the mortality rate of tuberculosis by 70%
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Ephraim Shorr
- Identified VEM, a factor produced by the kidney that aids the body's protective response to hemorrhagic shock and increases the effectiveness of epinephrine treatment
- Identified VDM, a factor produced by the liver that hinders the body's protective response during shock, decreases the body's sensitivity to epinephrine, and renders transfusion therapy ineffective
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Robert F. Furchgott
- With Ephraim Shorr, elucidated the body's response to shock and epinephrine treatment
- Studied the role of nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system (received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine)
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Walter F. Riker, Jr.
- With Walsh McDermott, discovered that the drug British anti-lewisite could be used to combat the deleterious effects of arsenic-based syphilis drugs
- Established the distinction between experimental pharmacology and clinical pharmacology
- 1986, received the Torald Sollman Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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John Laragh
- Revolutionized understanding of hypertension
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Raymond W. Houde
- Pioneered the development and use of drugs for control of chronic pain in cancer patients
- Elucidated the clinical pharmacology of opioid analgesics
- Developed the tools now commonly used to quantitatively measure subject responses about pain and pain relief
- Developed a table of relative analgesic potencies that formed the basis for dose conversion tables, now used worldwide
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Walter Modell
- Advocated safety testing and "probationary period" for all new drugs
- Instrumental supporter of the FDA's Kefauver Harris Amendment, requiring proof of efficacy and honesty in advertising from drug manufacturers
- Described by Time magazine as "one of America's foremost drug experts"
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Henn Kutt
- Elucidated the pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs and developed more effective dosing and testing standards for the treatment of epilepsy
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Marcus M. Reidenberg
- Chief, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, 1975.
- Pioneer of Individualized Medicine (aka, Personalized Medicine)
- Pioneer in drug safety and use policy; chronic pain in patients; management of patient illnesses after adverse drug reactions
- Proper controls essential for study of adverse drug reactions (1968)
- Impaired renal function changes dose-response relationships of drugs
- Age an important variable affecting drug dose response
- Torald Sollmann Award from ASPET, 2011 (American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics)
- 2007, 2009 Chair of the WHO Expert Committees on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines
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Lorraine J. Gudas
- First woman to chair a basic science department at Weill Cornell Medical College.
- Pioneer and multiple patents working with retinoids for treatment of cancer.
- First identification and characterization of the functions of the recA gene in E. coli
- First cloning of the genes encoding the extracellular matrix proteins laminin B1 and collagen IVα (1)
- First identification and characterization of a primary retinoic acid target gene, Hoxa1
- First identification and characterization of a major embryonic stem cell marker, Rex1 (Zfp42)
- Identification of the linkage between retinoids and homeobox gene regulation via RAREs
- First report of loss of RARβ expression in human tumor cells
GENERAL CONTACT INFORMATION
Mailing Address
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/
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Weill Department of Medicine
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