Nobel Prize winner Murad at DPU for anniversary lecture

Thursday, March 7, 2013
Ferid Murad

Ferid Murad, the 1958 DePauw University graduate who received the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine, will return to his alma mater this Saturday, March 9, to present a 175th Anniversary Distinguished Alumni Lecture.

The talk will begin at 4 p.m. in Meharry Hall, located within historic East College. Attendance is free and the speech is open to all.

Dr. Murad's appearance caps off DePauw's Alumni Healthcare and Legal Professionals Program, which begins Friday evening and concludes with a dinner following the Nobel laureate's lecture.

At the two-day sessions, participants will discuss important social, ethical and legal issues facing Americans as individuals and as a nation.

Murad won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his discovery of the role of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system.

The discovery not only contributed to a better understanding of how information is transmitted between cells but also had a significant influence on cardiovascular medicine, leading to changes in treatment following a heart attack.

His research and findings on the effect of nitric oxide continue to influence the treatment of cancer and arthritis and other human diseases and helped create Viagra and related drugs,

A professor at George Washington University's School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Murad has received numerous other awards and honors, including the Albert and Mary Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, American Heart Association Ciba Award and Baxter Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Murad earned his undergraduate degree in premedical science and chemistry from DePauw in 1958 before earning M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University in 1965.

Murad delivered the golden anniversary address to his Class of 1958 at DePauw's Alumni Celebration on June 14, 2008, in which he expressed his concern that the United States "may be starting to lose the race" in science and technology.

The university's 175th anniversary celebration began Jan. 10, 2012 and continues through June 2013.

Also scheduled to deliver Distinguished Alumni Lectures as part of DePauw's 175th anniversary series are:

-- New York Philharmonic choral director and founder/director of New York Choral Artists group Joseph Flummetfelt, Class of 1958, lecturing at 1:30 p.m. April 7, followed by a 3 p.m. concert.

-- Fox News Channel anchor Brett Baier, Class of 1992, date TBA.

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