Miller School Remembers Nobel Laureate Dr. Andrew Schally
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Distinguished Professor and Nobel Laureate Andrew V. Schally, Ph.D., M.D.h.c., D.Sc.h.c., passed away October 17. He was 97 years old.
Dr. Schally, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977 while working for the Veterans Administration Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, is remembered as a beloved colleague and dedicated scientist.
“My father pursued his passion for science relentlessly,” said Gordon Schally, M.D., his son and a diagnostic radiologist. “He stressed the value of hard work and perseverance.”
“Andrew was all about science. It was his passion and his pleasure,” said Roy Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of medicine, the Rabbi Morris I. Esformes Endowed Chair in Medicine and Endocrinology and the Kathleen & Stanley Glaser Distinguished Chair at the Miller School. “His discipline in rigorous science and discovery inspired all of us.”
Dr. Schally’s distinguished career includes more than 2,200 articles published in significant, peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Dr. Schally also received the Van Meter Award of the American Thyroid Association, the Albert Lasker Award and the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He has received more than 30 honorary degrees as well as the award of Chevalier of the Legion d’honneur from France.
Born in Poland in 1926, Dr. Schally and his family endured Nazi occupation within a Jewish-Polish community in Romania during World War II. The experience steeled him against hardship and instilled in him a determination to succeed.
“We spoke about his early life in Poland and how overcoming discrimination and adversity made him even stronger,” said Dr. Weiss.
After the war, he studied in Scotland and England and became a member of the National Institute of Medical Research Mill Hill of London in 1950.
He earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal and joined Baylor University in 1957, researching neuroendocrinology and gastroenterology at the Houston Veterans Affairs hospital. The national VA administration asked him to join the New Orleans VA in 1962, the same year he became a United States citizen, to focus on hormones released in the hypothalamus of the brain.
“He was very proud of his American citizenship and a big supporter of the military,” Dr. Gordon Schally said. “He strongly supported me when I decided to go to medical school and was thrilled I decided to do so through the military.”
Dr. Schally and team eventually determined the hypothalamus regulated hormones released in the pituitary gland. After isolating the pituitary hormone, they recreated it chemically, work that defined the preferred treatment for advanced prostate cancer and had dramatic ramifications on contraception, diabetes, abnormal growth, mental delays and depression.
Their work garnered national acclaim, including Dr. Schally and collaborator Dr. Roger Guillemin receiving the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Committee noted that their work “laid the foundations to modern hypothalamic research.”
Dr. Schally relocated to Miami in 2005. At the Miller School and the Miami Veterans Administration hospital, Dr. Schally led influential research on the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) molecule’s impact on benign prostatic hyperplasia. His research team found chronic inflammation encourages the prostate to secrete GHRH, which stimulates cell proliferation.
Dr. Schally also showed that a synthetic compound based on a brain hormone spurred the growth of cancer cells in Petri dishes but had the opposite effect in live mice. The discovery was significant because the human-made compound and others like it encourage the growth of healthy tissue, showing beneficial effects in preclinical studies to treat a range of medical conditions affecting the heart, pancreas, eyes and other organs.
Despite his illustrious career and monumental achievements, Dr. Schally was known throughout the Miller School for his kindness and gentle demeanor.
“I definitely felt he was a larger-than-life kind of guy,” said Carolyn Cray, Ph.D., a clinical professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and chief of the Division of Comparative Pathology at the Miller School. “But at the same time, in our first meeting, he was very gracious and chatted with our lab staff. We were all awestruck to be with a Nobel winner.”
“He was an adorable human being…super nice and so ready to engage with all of his colleagues,” said Merce Jorda, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., professor and Joseph R. Coulter, Jr. Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Miller School. “He was so down-to-earth. You would never know he was such an accomplished scientist. He was a true scholar and a true gentleman.”
A visitation to honor Dr. Schally will be held Thursday, Oct. 24, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Van Orsdel Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
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