Garret FitzGerald
MRIA FRS
Born
Garret Adare FitzGerald

(1950-05-11) 11 May 1950 (age 73)
Greystones, County Wicklow[2]
NationalityRepublic of Ireland
EducationBelvedere College[3]
Alma materUniversity College Dublin (MB BCh, MD)
Trinity College Dublin (PgD)
University of London (MSc)[4]
AwardsCameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh (2007)
Scientific career
FieldsCircadian rhythms
Cardiology
Vascular biology
Molecular clocks
Pharmacology[1]
InstitutionsVanderbilt University (1980–1991)
University College, Dublin (1991–1994)
University of Pennsylvania (1994–)
Websitewww.med.upenn.edu/fitzgeraldlab/personnel.html

Garret Adare FitzGerald MRIA FRS is an Irish physician. He is professor of translational medicine and Therapeutics and chair of the department of pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.[5] He researches aspects of cardiology, pharmacology, translational medicine, and chronobiology.[1]

Early life and education

FitzGerald was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, on 11 May 1950.[2] He grew up in Dublin,[4] acquiring an unabated passion for rugby.[6] He attended Belvedere College, a Jesuit school for boys in Dublin.[3] Influenced by his grandfather, who had been a professor of Greek, FitzGerald learned five languages at school including Greek and Latin.[2] FitzGerald went to study medicine at University College Dublin (UCD), where he received an MB BCh (honours) degree in 1974 and an MD degree in 1980. In between, he also obtained a Postgraduate diploma in statistics from Trinity College Dublin in 1977 and an MSc degree in statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1979.[4][5]

FitzGerald attributes his career in medicine to "a series of accidents".[2] During his final examinations at UCD he was required to dissect the mouthparts of a cockroach. Peering through a microscope, FitzGerald discovered that he had lost one of the main pieces. Disaster seemed certain as he searched the floor on his hands and knees. The exam proctor came to help and eventually emerged with the tiny fragment stuck to her thumb. FitzGerald has stated that without her intervention he would never have become a physician.[4]

Career

After completing his clinical training, FitzGerald took a research position at Vanderbilt University in 1980. He returned to Ireland in 1991 before relocating to the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 as the founding director of the Center for Experimental Therapeutics (CET). He became chair of pharmacology in 1996.[6]

FitzGerald was a member of the Science Board to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[7]

FitzGerald's work contributed substantially to the development of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes.[4] FitzGerald's lab was the first to predict and then mechanistically explain the cardiovascular hazard from Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), a common class of painkiller.[8] His work showing that selective COX-2 inhibitors depress the production of prostacyclin in the endothelium, thereby increasing cardiovascular risk,[9] was instrumental in the withdrawal of Vioxx (rofecoxib) from the U.S. market in 2004.[4][10]

Honours and awards

FitzGerald is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society, the Accademia dei Lincei and the Leopoldina, and an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy.

References

  1. ^ a b Garret A. FitzGerald publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ a b c d Farley, Adam (6 May 2017). "Dr. Garret FitzGerald Wants to Build Bridges". Irish America. No. August/September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b Anon (2017). "FitzGerald, Prof. Garret Adare". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U281224. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Landau, Elizabeth (21 June 2013). "Doctor is pain medicine 'visionary'". CNN. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Garret A. FitzGerald, M.D., FRS – website of the Perelman School of Medicine
  6. ^ a b Conner, Kristine. "A man of many parts". Penn Medicine. No. Spring 2001. pp. 6–11. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  7. ^ "FDA Science Board Members". US Food and Drug Administration. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  8. ^ "The FitzGerald Lab – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania". Personnel. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  9. ^ Grosser, Tilo; Fries, Susanne; FitzGerald, Garret A. (8 December 2005). "Biological basis for the cardiovascular consequences of COX-2 inhibition: therapeutic challenges and opportunities". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 116 (1). American Society for Clinical Investigation: 4–15. doi:10.1172/jci27291. ISSN 0021-9738. PMC 1323269. PMID 16395396.
  10. ^ a b "Dubliner receives Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence". The Irish Times. 20 October 2005. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Previous Recipients". Robarts Research. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Jakob-Herz-Preis 2011" (PDF) (in German). Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlang-Nürnberg. 5 February 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  13. ^ Anon (2012). "Garret FitzGerald". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  14. ^ Genest, Jacques; Hébert, Terence E.; Martin, James (13 October 2016). "The Louis and Artur Lucian Award in Cardiovascular Diseases at McGill University". Circulation Research. 119 (9). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health): 975–977. doi:10.1161/circresaha.116.309972. ISSN 0009-7330. PMID 27737939.
  15. ^ "Former Laureates". Apotekarsocieteten. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  16. ^ "The Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences". Ohio State Heart and Vascular Research. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  17. ^ "UCD Alumni Awardee".
  18. ^ "Penn Medicines Garret FitzGerald MD FRS Elected to the German National Academy of Sciences – PR News". Penn Medicine. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  19. ^ RCSI celebrates graduates at summer conferring ceremonies – website of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
  20. ^ "Honorary Awards to Foreign Nationals in 2021". Gov.UK. 2021.

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