BIO

My parents of course impacted me. My mother was very intelligent and gave me books such as the collected stories of Sherlock Holmes, which gave me a growing interest in science and evidence-based thinking. But, after my middle brother was born, she became depressed. After some time, she was given treatments for depression and then immediately did better. But the improvement did not last. While the treatments helped, she absolutely hated and then refused them.

I mention this because I was able to witness the difficult effect that mental illness can have on family life. I resolved at an early age that I would try to help the needy like my mom. This resolution was a recurrent theme in my career decisions. My father very much stressed education, and all of this directed me to have the career that I eventually did have. My dad was also clever, hardworking, non-racist, and stressed fairness. He was a gift.

While these circumstances molded and directed me, I’m fortunate to have had the motivation, mentoring and energy to go forward with those goals. When it comes to this part of my life, I feel like I did with my life what I had to do. Also, I was successful beyond my modest expectations.  It is a great feeling.  I did what I had to do and it turned out well!

Returning to my career, I mentioned that I went to graduate school in physics at Harvard. But, I was not set on physics as a career. At one point in college, I wanted to switch to premedical studies but it never really happened. I focused on math and physics because I did well in it, and a mentor in high school stressed that I had a gift for math. So, I went with it. But it did not last.

When I got to Harvard, I became sure that I wanted to work in the life sciences, possibly the neuroscience of mental illness. So, with the help of a friend, I transferred to The Johns Hopkins University Dept of Biophysics which was really a transition from math and physics to the life sciences. There I took all the necessary biology and related courses that would allow me to work in some aspect of the mental health field.

Then a great thing happened. To prepare to work in the mental health area, I found that the Pharmacology Dept at the Johns Hopkins Medical School would allow me to do my PhD research there in brain research. Pharmacology would make me employable by the drug industry if I needed that, and I needed to be practical and get a job someday.  This meant that I would be studying the effects of drugs and medicines on the brain, even mentally ill brains. It was like a dream come true. I had found a home for my future. I passed my oral PhD qualifying exams in 1968 and finished my Ph D research and dissertation in Neuropharmacology in 1970. Much of this success was because I had a brilliant mentor in Graduate School, Sol Snyder.

After I passed my PhD oral qualifying exams in 1968, I felt a little safer in my future and proposed marriage to a fellow graduate student, Joan Barenburg. We spent the next 40 years together before she died from cancer. We have two great children: David is a physician working for the CDC, and Kate is a sign language interpreter for the deaf. It is very nice. I have two super grandchildren as well.

When it was time to send our children to college, Joan went back to school and got a MS degree in social work. Her hard work helped support education for our young ones. My hat is off to Joan for her motherly efforts.

After receiving my PhD, it was customary to do advanced training in research and I chose to go to Yale, Dept of Psychiatry, and work with Drs George Aghajanian and Robert Roth. I got excellent training there that helped me get started in my independent career.

Then I returned to The Johns Hopkins Dept of Pharmacology in the school of medicine as an assistant professor. It was my first real job at age 26. Because of my interests, I also had a second appointment in the Dept of Psychiatry. I grew into teaching about drugs and the brain, and I began a research program that focused on the brain, how it worked and how it failed in disease. Topics that I focused on included neurotransmitter transporters, acetylcholine synthesis, autoradiographic localization of receptors, measurement of receptors in the living brain by PET scanning, peptide neurotransmitters, axonal flow of presynaptic receptors, the cocaine receptor, effects of separating mother rats from babies on drug intake, selective dopamine transporter inhibitors and structure, treatments for drug users, CART peptide systems in brain and periphery, and yet other topics.

I was successful enough that I was promoted up the ladder to full professor before the age of forty. My professional resume/curriculum vitae lists the details of these achievements.

In 1985, I decided to make a change and take a job at the National Institute of Drug Abuse as head of a new branch, the Neuroscience Branch. This job would allow me to continue my work on the brain. My best work and most highly cited paper was the identification of the cocaine receptor for addiction by binding techniques. The cocaine “receptor site” was the dopamine transporter. I was greatly pleased that I could do such a nice piece of work. It ultimately led to two invitations to the White House and an invitation to testify for the NIH budget at a congressional subcommittee hearing. I felt respected, and I received several other prestigious awards.

Also, at this time, I began a very productive collaboration with Dr Ivy Carroll, a medicinal chemist. Surprisingly, there was a lot of opportunity for discovery by making new molecules similar to cocaine. These new molecules were patented. Among these patents was a chemical that would be a good treatment medicine for cocaine addicts, and a great diagnostic procedure for Parkinson’s Disease.

As someone known in neuropharmacology, I was invited to join various boards of directors, be presidents of various societies, and I received other honors.

The next step in my career was to return to academia at Emory University.  I chose Emory because the offer was very substantial and there were good scientists there that I knew.  I finished my career there and retired at age 79. While at Emory, my research focused on several topics, but one major focus was a brain chemical called CART peptide. This chemical was associated with cocaine and feeling good and was related to both addiction, depression, and obesity. We carried out many basic studies on CART and these are built upon and referenced even today.

There are many ways to measure the success of a career. One is how high you move “up the ladder.” I never wanted to be an academic chairman or dean, but I headed research divisions for 25 years. I helped develop very outstanding scientists, doctors, and teachers. Another measure is productivity; publications are a good measure of this and overall, and I have more than 900 publications of all types. I taught in dozens of courses and trained many students, fellows, and visitors in research. I served on all the relevant committees and was an active member in all of the relevant professional societies. I was the president of several societies, was invited to the white house twice, and testified to a congressional subcommittee for the NIH budget.  One of the best measures of scientific success is citations – how many times your colleagues refer to your work; I have more than 50,000 lifetime citations, something I am very proud of. Overall, my career was more successful than I ever could have dreamt as a kid from northeastern Pennsylvania. I attribute mentoring, academic excellence, hard work, persistence and even some luck as keys for this success.

One of the best things about my career is the number of amazing colleagues that I met and still have friendships with after many decades. Many are among the finest people I have ever known.

Eventually, as I became an older faculty member, I decided to re-direct and expand my expertise into ethics. Emory has an outstanding Center for Ethics, and I taught a variety of topics in that field to post docs, grad students, MD-PhD students, and others. I wrote some articles and books on ethical topics as well. They have been well received. This was an excellent later career choice, and I enjoyed it very much.

After about 10 years at Emory, a tragedy happened.  My wife Joan was diagnosed with lung cancer. Despite heroic efforts by doctors, she passed away in 2008. It was a difficult time for all of us. My children and friends were supportive and helpful.  Her memorial service was attended by hundreds.

Also, along the way, many colleagues and friends succumbed to various illnesses and passed.  They are missed. As I face retirement, I am healthy, with enough resources, and ready for the adjustment. It will go well.

Before I close, it is worth noting that it was not all peaches, cream and prizes. As expected, there were conflicts, misunderstandings, jealousies, human errors, and sometimes just bad luck along with all the good. The unappealing side of human nature wins out more than we like, and evil can overpower good more often than we like, especially when good people stand by and do nothing. Judgments and actions are sometimes made without a full understanding of the facts. To find some inner peace, we want to blame the victims which is so easy. This is the way it seems to be. It is heartening that so many try to do it right and I am grateful for the many friends and colleagues who have done the right thing for me.