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Thomas Steitz, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry and HHMI Investigator

Yale University

"From the Structure and Function of the Ribosome to New Antibiotics"

December 4, 2012

The Ernst Knobil Distinguished Lecture was established in 2001 to honor Dr. Ernst Knobil, and the third dean of University of Texas Medical School from 1981—1984 and  one of the world’s leading neuroendocrinologists whose work has provided the basis for the understanding of reproductive function in women.

His work, spanning five decades, localized the pulse generator in the hypothalamus controlling the neuropeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GNRH) that serves as the basis for the understanding of the 28-day ovulatory menstrual cycle.  This led to the successful treatment of women suffering with infertility of hypothalamic origin with over 90 percent success rate in achieving pregnancy.

From 1961—1981, Dr. Knobil was the Richard Beatty Mellon Professor of Physiology and Chairman of the Department of Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  In 1981, he joined the The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he served as dean of the Medical School from 1981 to 1984.  As the H. Wayne Hightower Professor in the Medical Sciences and director of the Laboratory for Neuroendocrinology at the Medical School, he was named an Ashbel Smith Professor by the UT System Board of Regents in 1989 for his lifetime contributions to academic medicine.

     His many awards for research, teaching, and academic leadership included the prestigious 1989 Dickson Prize in Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh.  His acclaim and accomplishments in science included memberships in the National  Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, foreign associate of the French Academy of Sciences, the Academia Nazionale dei Lincei ( National Academy of Italy), the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, as well as an honorary membership in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  He also held honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Bordeaux, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the University of Liege and the University of Milan.

An endowment has been established in Dr. Knobil’s name. Contributions should be made to the Development Office, UTHSC Houston, Ernst Knobil Endowment, P.O. Box 203366, Houston, Texas 77216-3366.