Andrzej Viktor "Andrew" Schally (born 30 November 1926) is an American endocrinologistAndrew V. Schally
"Andrew V. Schally"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

ancestry, who was a corecipient, with Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This award recognized his research in the discovery that the hypothalamus controls hormone production and release by the pituitary gland, which controls the regulation of other hormones in the body. Later in life Schally utilized his knowledge of hypothalamic hormones to research possible methods for birth control and cancer treatment.

Life and career

Andrzej Wiktor SchallyAleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm. ''Love for Family, Friends, and Books.'' Rowman & Littlefield, 2015
p. 246.
was born in Wilno in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

(now Vilnius,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

), the son of Brigadier General

Kazimierz Schally Kazimierz Piotr Schally (English: Casimir Peter Schally;"Andrew Victor Schally 1977" in ''Nobel Laureates in Medicine or Physiology: A Biographical Dictionary.'' Daniel M. Fox, Marcia Meldrum and Ira Rezak, eds. Garland Publishing, 1990. p. 486. ...

, who was chief of the cabinet of President

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

of Poland, and Maria (née Łącka). In September 1939, when Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Schally escaped with Poland's President

, the prime minister and the whole cabinet to the neutral Romania, where they were interned.

I was fortunate to survive the holocaust while living among the Jewish-Polish Community in Roumania. I used to speak Polish, Roumanian, Yiddish, Italian and some German and Russian, but I have almost completely forgotten them, and my French in which I used to excel is also now far from fluent.

Immediately after the war, in 1945, he moved via Italy and France to the United Kingdom where he changed his first name to Andrew. Schally received his education in Scotland and England. In 1952, he moved to Canada. He received his doctorate in endocrinology from McGill University in 1957. That same year he left for a research career in the United States where he has worked principally at Tulane University. Schally currently conducts research in endocrinology at the Miami Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Miami, Florida. A Canadian citizen when he left Canada, Schally became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1962. He was affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine for some years in Houston, Texas. He developed a new realm of knowledge concerning the brain's control over the body chemistry. Schally explained in his 1977 Nobel Lecture that he, alongside his researchers, dissected 250,000 pig hypothalami in order to isolate 5 mg of the hormone thyrotropin-releasing hormone (

TRH Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is a hypophysiotropic hormone produced by neurons in the hypothalamus that stimulates the release of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and prolactin from the anterior pituitary. TRH has been used clinical ...

) to determine the molecular structure of the hormone. His work also addressed birth control methods and the effects of growth hormones on the body. Together with Roger Guillemin he described the

neurohormone A neurohormone is any hormone produced and released by neuroendocrine cells (also called neurosecretory cells) into the blood. By definition of being hormones, they are secreted into the circulation for systemic effect, but they can also have a role ...

gonadotropin-releasing hormone ( GnRH) that controls follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone ( LH), two hormones that are integral parts of reproduction and growth and development. Schally received an ''honoris causa'' doctors degree from the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

in Kraków. Recognized as a Fellow of the

Kosciuszko Foundation The Kosciuszko Foundation is a charitable foundation based in New York City. It was created by Stephen Mizwa to fund programs that promote Polish-American intellectual and artistic exchange. History The Polish American Scholarship Committee was ...

of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry. He was married to Margaret Rachel White (divorced), and Ana Maria de Medeiros-Comaru.

Cancer research

In 1981 it was demonstrated that the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonistic analogs that Schally had developed between the years of 1972-1978 inhibited the growth of prostate cancer in rats. Alongside Dr. George Tolis, Schally conducted the first clinical trial of GnRH for patients with advanced

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

in 1982. This method is now the preferred treatment for advanced prostate carcinoma. About 70% of patients with prostate cancer receive an agonist as their primary method of treatment. According to Schally, his treatment causes fewer side effects than radiation and chemotherapy. The previous method of treatment,

orchiectomy Orchiectomy (also named orchidectomy, and sometimes shortened as orchi or orchie) is a surgical procedure in which one or both testicles are removed. The surgery is performed as treatment for testicular cancer, as part of surgery for transgend ...

or the administration of estrogens, was based on the research of Charles Brenton Huggins. In 2004, after the death of his wife due to thyroid cancer, Schally found comfort in continuing his research.

Awards and honors

* Van Meter Award of the

American Thyroid Association The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is a professional organization of over 1700 medical specialists devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and ...

(1969) *

Albert Lasker Award The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was f ...

(1975) * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1977) *Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1978)

References

* Aleksandra Ziółkowska, ''Korzenie są polskie'' (The Roots Are Polish), Warsaw, 1992, . *

Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, ''The Roots Are Polish'', Toronto, 2004, . *

Nicholas Wade Nicholas Michael Landon Wade (born 17 May 1942) is a British author and journalist. He is the author of numerous books, and has served as staff writer and editor for ''Nature'', ''Science'', and the science section of ''The New York Times''. ...

, ''

The Nobel Duel ''The Nobel Duel: Two Scientists' 21-Year Race to Win the World's Most Coveted Research Prize'' is a 1981 book by science journalist Nicholas Wade. It describes the rivalry between scientists Andrew Schally and Roger Guillemin, whose discoveries ...

'', Garden City, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1981.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schally, Andrew 1926 births Living people American endocrinologists American Nobel laureates Baylor College of Medicine physicians and researchers McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine People with acquired American citizenship Polish emigrants to the United States Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Tulane University faculty Scientists from Vilnius Baylor College of Medicine faculty