FitzGerald named Center chief

World renowned clinical pharmacologist Garret FitzGerald has been named chief-designate of the proposed Center for Experimental Therapeutics at the University Medical Center. According to Lisa Bain, spokesperson for the Medical Center, FitzGerald will arrive on campus in August. The field of experimental therapeutics explores the mechanisms by which drugs work. It then tests drugs to explore the causes of disease. Experimental therapeutics also involves clinical trials in which new treatments are tested for safety and efficacy, according to Bain. Department of Pharmacology Chairperson Perry Molinoff said the new center will be home to six faculty members from the Department of Medicine and three from Pharmacology. FitzGerald was also chosen to head the General Clinical Research Center, a nationally known laboratory for patient-oriented research. Under FitzGerald's leadership, the new Center will expand the role of clinical pharmacology at the Medical Center. According to Bain, FitzGerald's research has focused on the biochemical events that lead to thrombosis and atheroschlerosis. He has also worked on drug treatments that intervene in these processes. He holds grant awards from various pharmaceutical companies and associations, and was an established investigator of the American Heart Association from 1985 until 1990. FitzGerald has been a professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine and Experimental Therapeutics at University College in Dublin, Ireland since 1991. He is also a consultant physician at Dublin's Mater Hospital. Prior to that appointment, he was an endowed professor of experimental therapeutics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Medical Center officials praised FitzGerald's appointment this week. "He is a world leader in experimental therapeutics," Molinoff said. "He has great expertise, especially in the area of blood clotting." "Dr. FitzGerald's work overlaps a number of subspecialties, disciplines and approaches, and he will be positioned to encourage interdisciplinary research on several levels," said William Kelley, chief executive officer of the Medical Center and dean of the School of Medicine, in a statement. "We look forward to the contributions he will make," Kelly added.