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UTHSC Faculty Member Receives International Appointment

 

            Memphis, Tennessee (September 28, 2004) – Gabor Tigyi, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has been elected to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Having been educated in Hungary, Dr. Tigyi was among seven distinguished scientists in the United States who received this honor to become a foreign member of the academy.

            Established in 1848, the academy has been the top forum of Hungarian intellectuals, which fulfills an important advisory role in shaping science and cultural policy. Academy membership is limited to 200 members, each elected by secret ballot, based on the nomination of at least two members.

            One of Dr. Tigyi’s nominators, Tibor Farkas, a world-renowned lipid biochemist, praised Dr. Tigyi’s groundbreaking discoveries concerning phospholipid growth factors, a group of natural substances he discovered in blood serum that is now being developed for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases such as organ rejection, autoimmunity and cancer metastasis.

            Dean of the UTHSC College of Medicine, Henry G. Herrod, MD, commented, “This recognition is a reflection of the importance of the area he is working in and the results he has achieved.”

            Dr. Tigyi was also honored for his service on committees that promote scientific exchange and collaboration between the United States and developing countries, including those of the former Eastern block.

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