Bert W. O'Malley

Bert W. O'Malley
Born (1936-12-09) 9 December 1936 (age 87)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Pittsburgh (BSc, MD), Duke University (Residency in Internal Medicine), National Institutes of Health (Research Training)
Known forDiscovery of coactivators in gene expression regulation, Advances in understanding hormone action at the molecular level, Development of therapeutic strategies for cancer and metabolic diseases
AwardsNational Medal of Science (2008), Elected member of the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Inventors, Over 65 honors and major awards
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular Endocrinology, Gene Regulation, Steroid Receptor-Coactivator Action
InstitutionsVanderbilt University, Baylor College of Medicine

Bert W. O'Malley is an endocrinologist from the United States. He was born in 1936 in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his early education at Catholic primary schools and Central Catholic High School, before pursuing higher education at the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed both his undergraduate and medical studies, graduating first in his class.[1] It was here that he met Sally, who would become his wife and lifelong partner. The couple went on to have four children.[2]

After completing his medical degree, O'Malley moved to Duke University for residency training in Internal Medicine, followed by advanced clinical endocrine and research training at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI).[3] During his time at NIH, O'Malley made significant contributions to endocrinology by utilizing the chick oviduct as a model to study how female sex steroids induce the synthesis of ovalbumin and avidin proteins, thus advancing the understanding of hormone regulation in endocrine organs.[4][5]

In 1969, O'Malley joined Vanderbilt University as the Lucious Birch Professor.[6] His research during the 1960s, a time of various competing theories on hormone function in cells, led him to be the first to demonstrate in 1972 that hormones act on DNA to induce changes in gene expression and specific mRNAs, which in turn direct all target cell functions and growth. This ground-breaking work provided clarity in the field and set the stage for future research on hormone action mediated gene expression and pharmaceutical development.[7][8]

O'Malley's career took another significant turn in 1972 when he moved to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, taking on the role of the Tom Thompson Distinguished Leadership Professor and Chair of Molecular and Cellular Biology. In 2019, he assumed the position of Chancellor at Baylor College of Medicine, marking a distinguished career in medical research and education. Throughout his career, O'Malley's contributions have been instrumental in advancing the understanding of hormone action at the molecular level, impacting both basic sciences and clinical practices.[3]

  1. ^ www.225.pitt.edu https://www.225.pitt.edu/story/bert-o'malley-puzzling-over-proteins. Retrieved 2024-04-05. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ Kumar, T Rajendra (2018-02-15). "An interview with Professor Bert O' Malley". Biology of Reproduction. pp. 269–270. doi:10.1093/biolre/ioy046. PMID 29462460. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  3. ^ a b "Bert W O'Malley, M.D. | BCM". www.bcm.edu. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  4. ^ "jbc.org".
  5. ^ Hughes, Mark R.; Compton, John G.; Schrader, William T.; O'Malley, Bert W. (1981-04-01). "Interaction of the chick oviduct progesterone receptor with deoxyribonucleic acid". Biochemistry. 20 (9): 2481–2491. doi:10.1021/bi00512a019. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 7236615.
  6. ^ "Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology celebrates 50 years". BCM Family. 2023-01-25. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  7. ^ Tata, Jamshed R. (June 2005). "One hundred years of hormones: A new name sparked multidisciplinary research in endocrinology, which shed light on chemical communication in multicellular organisms". EMBO Reports. 6 (6): 490–496. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400444. ISSN 1469-221X. PMC 1369102. PMID 15940278.
  8. ^ O’Malley, Bert W. (2005-06-01). "A Life-Long Search for the Molecular Pathways of Steroid Hormone Action". Molecular Endocrinology. 19 (6): 1402–1411. doi:10.1210/me.2004-0480. ISSN 0888-8809. PMID 15914709.