Ralph Isadore Dorfman, (1911 – November 19, 1985) was a Jewish American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

. His work on

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

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 ...

and the use of

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

hormones contributed to the development of the

combined oral contraceptive pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progest ...

."Dr. Ralph I. Dorfman"
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'', December 12, 1985, accessed February 5, 2019 Dorfman was born in Chicago, Illinois.Simoni, Robert D., Robert L. Hill, Martha Vaughan and Herbert Tabor
"The Metabolism of Steroid Hormones: Ralph I. Dorfman"
''

Journal of Biological Chemistry The ''Journal of Biological Chemistry'' (''JBC'') is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1905., jbc.org Since 1925, it is published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research in ...

'',

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Phy ...

, December 12, 2003 He received his bachelor's degree from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

and a doctorate from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. After teaching at several institutions, including

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, he became a director at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Shrewsbury (/ˈʃruzberi/ ''SHROOZ-bury'') is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Shrewsbury, unlike the surrounding towns of Grafton, Millbury, Westborough, Northborough, Boylston, and West Boylston did not become a ...

, which, during his 13-year tenure there, "became an international center for bioassays and the study of the chemistry, biochemistry, and biology of steroid hormones." While working at the Worcester Foundation, Dorfman was a research consultant to the

Syntex Laboratorios Syntex SA (later Syntex Laboratories, Inc.) was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in January 1944 by Russell Marker, Emeric Somlo, and Federico Lehmann to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called ''cabe ...

Corporation, starting in 1950. There he helped to develop the first publicly available birth control pill. In 1964, Dorfman joined Syntex full-time, eventually serving as president of Syntex Research in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

from 1973–1976. Dorfman's research also focused on treatments for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis and originated the reproductive biology concept of anti-estrogens and anti-androgens. Late in his career, Dorfman returned to academia serving as a visiting professor in the Department of

Molecular Pharmacology ''Molecular Pharmacology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics since 1965. It is indexed in MEDLINE, Meta, Scopus, and other databases. According to the ''Journa ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, 1967–1973, and finally as a consulting professor until his death. In addition to his numerous papers, Dorfman was the author or editor of 14 books and founded the journal ''

Steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

''."Ralph I. Dorfman Lectureship"
Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, accessed February 5, 2018 Dorfman died of complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

El Camino Hospital El Camino Health is a non-profit hospital with 420 beds (Mountain View Main Campus) based on a campus in Mountain View, California. There is a second, smaller hospital campus, El Camino Hospital, Los Gatos, in Los Gatos, with additional satellit ...

in Mountain View, California, at the age of 74. His brother was

Albert Dorfman Albert Dorfman (1916–1982) was an American biochemical geneticist, notable for discovery of the cause of Hurler's syndrome. He was also noted for his contributions to vaccine against Streptococcus infections. He also contributed to advances ag ...

, and his grandson is

Barnaby Dorfman Barnaby Dorfman is an American businessman and currently the Chief Technology Officer of Go1.com. He was Chief Engineering Officer and General Manager of the PayScale Consumer Products Division. He is the founder and former CEO of Foodista. His pre ...

References

"Ralph I. Dorfman" at National Academy of Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorfman, Ralph American biochemists Jewish American scientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1911 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American Jews