John Olney (1932 – April 14, 2015) was a medical doctor and a professor of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

, and

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see the ...

at the

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with ...

. He is known for his work on brain damage. He coined the term

excitotoxicity In excitotoxicity, nerve cells suffer damage or death when the levels of otherwise necessary and safe neurotransmitters such as glutamate become pathologically high, resulting in excessive stimulation of receptors. For example, when glutamate ...

in his 1969 paper published in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

''.

Olney's lesions Olney's lesions, also known as NMDA receptor antagonist neurotoxicity (NAN), are a form of potential brain damage due to drugs that have been studied experimentally and have produced neuronal damage, yet are administered by doctors to humans in the ...

are named after him. In 1996 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

.Alumni interview
. University of Iowa. He had campaigned for greater regulation of monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame and other excitotoxins for over twenty years. He died at his residence on April 14, 2015 at the age of 83.

References

External links

University of Iowa Medical School: Alumni Interview: John Olney, M.D.Washington University, Department of Psychiatry: John W. Olney, M.D.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olney, John American medical researchers American neuroscientists 1932 births 2015 deaths American psychiatrists Members of the National Academy of Medicine