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Henry R. Besch, Jr.
September 12, 1942 - March 17, 2007
As printed on the Indiana University, Alliance
of distinguished and Titled Professors web site
http://www.indiana.edu/~alldrp/members/besch.html
Showalter Professor of Pharmacology
Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis
Henry Roland Besch, Jr., received the B.Sc. in Physiology and Chemistry
in 1964 and the Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Biophysics in 1967 from the Ohio
State University. He served postdoctoral positions at the Baylor College of
Medicine in Houston, Texas and at the Royal Free Hospital School of
Medicine, University of London, UK. He then joined the Indiana University
School of Medicine and six years later became Professor and Chair of the
Department of Pharmacology. He was awarded the title of Showalter Professor
of Pharmacology in 1980, in recognition of his work on subcellular membrane
proteins controlling mechanical and electrical performance of the heart.
Dr. Besch holds memberships in numerous national and international
biomedical associations and societies, and he has lectured at symposia and
meetings throughout the world and written and co-authored numerous
publications in the scientific literature. Dr. Besch has served for over 25
years on various federal panels and 14 years as Field Editor of the
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He has been
Treasurer and then President of the Association for Medical School
Pharmacology, the United States, Canadian and Mexican pharmacology
Chairs' professional association. Additionally, Dr. Besch has contributed
for over a decade as a member of the Boards of Directors of biotechnology
corporations in Ohio and Texas, and more recently in Indiana, California and
Georgia. Now Director Emeritus of the Indiana State Department of
Toxicology, Dr. Besch was its Director from 1991 to 1996. From 1992 to 1995
he also held appointment as an External Examiner at the University of the
West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. In 1995, he served a sabbatical leave at
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in the Biochemistry
Institute directed by Professor Doctor Ernesto Carafoli.
Since 1977 Dr. Besch and his colleagues have increasingly focused their
research efforts on structure-activity relationships among the alkaloids of
the rainforest shrub Ryania peciosa. Ryanodine, dehydroryanodine and several
dozen of their chemical derivatives have been evaluated for effects on the
calcium release channel of arco(endo)plasmic reticulum. These studies remain
at the forefront of research endeavors to develop therapeutic ryanoids for
use in treatment of human disease.
URL:
http://pharmtox.iusm.iu.edu/besch.htm
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