John Oates, M.D.
Oates lands lifetime achievement award from Eicosanoid foundation
John Oates, M.D., has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eicosanoid Research Foundation for his groundbreaking contributions to understanding the role of these potent molecules in health and disease.
Oates, the Thomas F. Frist Professor of Medicine and professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, received the award Sept. 16 at the 10th International Conference on Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Related Diseases in Montreal. He also was a plenary speaker at the three-day conference, which was sponsored by the Detroit-based foundation.
Eicosanoids are a large family of molecules derived from fatty acids that include prostaglandins, and which have varied and profound effects ranging from inflammation and blood pressure control to cancer and, possibly, Alzheimer's disease.
According to the foundation, “Oates and his colleagues have elucidated the metabolism and biosynthesis of eicosanoids, developed new approaches to quantifying their production in humans, and advanced knowledge of their pharmacology and pathophysiology.”
Oates was the first director of Vanderbilt's Division of Clinical Pharmacology, founded the Center for Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Toxicology, and chaired the Department of Medicine from 1983 to 1997.
He is a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, he received an Award of Excellence in Clinical Research from the General Clinical Research Centers Program of the National Institutes of Health.