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SUNY Downstate Pays Tribute to Academy Member Robert Furchgott

The late pharmacologist and 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be honored October 8.

Published September 22, 2009

SUNY Downstate Medical Center will hold a memorial tribute on October 8 for the late pharmacologist Robert Furchgott, a NYAS member and Nobel Laureate who died in May.

Furchgott worked with the gas nitric oxide, which led to new research in cardiovascular functions. Upon receipt of the Nobel Prize, Furchgott and his colleagues Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad were praised for providing the first proof that a gas can perform important biochemical functions in the body. Furchgott's work later contributed to the development of Viagra.

Furchgott earned a chemistry degree from the University of North Carolina and a doctorate in biochemistry from Northwestern University. Before joining the faculty at SUNY Downstate in 1956, he taught and researched at Cornell and Washington Universities. He was chairman of Downstate's pharmacology department from 1956 until 1982.

The tribute will take place on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 3:00 PM in the Alumni Auditorium at SUNY Downstate, 395 Lenox Road, in Brooklyn. Preceding the memorial guests may visit a gallery of awards and honors from a collection donated by Furchgott to the university, including the original Nobel medal. For more information, please contact Rose Jackman, 718-270-4786.