Penn Researcher Receives Scheele Award from the Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences

PHILADELPHIA — Garret FitzGerald, MD, FRS chair of the Department of Pharmacology and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine & Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2013 Scheele Award.

The Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences bestows the Scheele Award on prominent scientists in the field of drug research and development to commemorate the skills and achievements of the famous Swedish chemist and pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the Scheele Award given the prominence of the Swedish Academy and the outstanding contributions of previous recipients,” said FitzGerald. “This award reflects the accomplishments of those with whom I have been so privileged to work in the laboratory over the years.”

FitzGerald, also professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and the McNeil Professor in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, takes an integrative approach to elucidating the mechanisms of drug action. He was the first to describe the dose-dependent suppression by aspirin of thromboxane and prostacyclin in humans and to elucidate the platelet inhibitory effects of aspirin in the pre-systemic circulation. This body of research contributed substantially to the development of low-dose aspirin as a preventive approach to heart disease. His group was the first to predict and then explain mechanistically the cardiovascular hazard from NSAIDs. His team was also the first to discover a molecular clock in the cardiovascular system and their work has contributed substantially to understanding the importance of peripheral clocks in the regulation of cardiovascular and metabolic function.

A Scheele Symposium with a scientific program related to the research of the laureate will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, November 12-13, 2013. The symposium will include a Scheele Lecture and an award ceremony, where the Scheele Laureate is awarded a medal and a sum of 200 000 SEK (approx. 20 000 Euro).

Editors Note:
The Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, with its roots in the 17th century, is a non-profit organization for professionals engaged in the field of medicinal drugs. The aim of the organization is to further the development in pharmaceutical research and to promote high professional standards.

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