Dr. Andrew Schally

Matas Library Photograph Collection, no. 1619

Faculty, Medicine at Tulane 1962-  Chief of Section, Experimental Medicine,  
Nobel Laureate for Medicine or Physiology, 1977

Dr. Schally achieved international recognition as a 1977 Nobel Laureate for Medicine or Physiology. The prize was in recognition of his discovery of the structure of certain key hormones of the hypothalamus: thyrotropin-releasing hormones, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormones and follicle-stimulating hormones. His discoveries led to the recognition of the hypothalamus as the controlling factor of the pituitary gland.

Schally's work opened the door to new research in contraception, diabetes, abnormal growth, mental retardation, as well as depression and other human mental disorders.

 The earliest members of our 1962 VA-Tulane team were T. W. Redding, W. H. Carter, and M. Tanaka. They have stayed with me all these years, and without their devoted help we could not have resolved the many problems associated with our work on TRH in 1969, LH-RH in 1971, and porcine somatostatin in 1975. Working in a clinical environment, I became more aware of the need for better diagnosis and treatment of patients than I had been before.  

...

 1972-1978, he developed agonistic analogs of LH-RH (also called GnRH) and in 1981 was the first to show that they inhibit growth of prostate cancer in rats...developed the preferred method for treatment of advanced prostate cancer based on LH-RH agonists.  - http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1977/schally-bio.html