Stephen István Szára (March 21, 1923 – August 1, 2021) was a Hungarian-American chemist and psychiatrist who made major contributions in the field of

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

Life in Hungary

Szára was born in

Pestújhely Pestújhely (literally: ''New Settlement by Pest'', german: Neustädtl) is one of the northern suburbs of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It belongs to District XV. History Until the second half of the 19th century, this area belonged to the ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in March 1923. He was the first to scientifically study the

psychotropic A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...

effects of ''N,N''-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), performing research with volunteers in the mid-1950s. Szára had turned his attention to DMT after his order for

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

from the Swiss company

Sandoz Laboratories Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loca ...

was rejected on the grounds that the powerful psychotropic could be dangerous in the hands of a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

country. ()

Move to the US

Shortly after the Hungarian Revolution, Szára left

and moved to the United States where he eventually became Chief of the Biomedical Branch of the U.S.

National Institute on Drug Abuse The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual a ...

. In the U.S., he worked with

Julius Axelrod Julius Axelrod (May 30, 1912 – December 29, 2004) was an American biochemist. He won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. The Nobel Committee honored him for his work on the re ...

and others on the metabolism of DMT and related compounds in healthy and schizophrenic volunteers. Among other achievements, Szára and his colleagues characterized the biochemistry of the first three psychedelic congeners of tryptamine: dimethyl-, diethyl-, and dipropyl-tryptamine (

DMT ''N'',''N''-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT or ''N'',''N''-DMT, SPL026) is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including human beings, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. It is used as a ...

, DET, and

DPT DPT may refer to: Science and medicine * Dpt (unit) (dioptre/diopter), most commonly a unit measuring refraction and power in a lens or curved mirror *Dermatopontin, a human extracellular matrix protein *Dipropyltryptamine, a psychedelic tryptamin ...

), describing their pharmacokinetics and effects. Szára's research explored both the possibility that some tryptamines (DMT, in particular) might contribute to psychosis by forming in the brain as well as the possibility that some psychedelics might be useful in psychotherapy. In recent years, Szára had argued that

psychedelic drugs Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

should be studied in a

heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...

manner and that learning the mechanisms by which they affect the brain may "serve as keys to unlock the mysteries of the brain/mind relationship". Szára was an Emeritus Fellow of the

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Founded in 1961, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) is a professional organization of leading brain and behavior scientists. The principal functions of the college are research and education. Their goals in research are to offe ...

and

Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaf ...

, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the

Heffter Research Institute The Heffter Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes research with classic hallucinogens and psychedelics, predominantly psilocybin, to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind and to alleviate suffering. Fou ...

. He was elected Honorary Member of the Hungarian Association of Psychopharmacology in 2007. He was also the recipient of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Administrator's Meritorious Achievement Award and the Kovats Medal of Freedom from the American Hungarian Federation (2005).

Death

He died in

Kensington, Maryland Kensington is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,213 at the 2010 United States Census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 ZIP code, with a population of 19,054. History The area around th ...

, in August 2021 at the age of 98.Stephen István Szára obituary
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References

1923 births 2021 deaths Hungarian chemists Hungarian psychologists Hungarian scientists Psychedelic drug researchers Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{chemist-stub