Alfred Gilman, Sr.
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Alfred Zack Gilman (February 5, 1908 – January 13, 1984) was an American
pharmacologist Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...
best known for pioneering early
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...
techniques using
nitrogen mustard Nitrogen mustards (NMs) are cytotoxic organic compounds with the bis(2-chloroethyl)amino ((ClC2H4)2NR) functional group. Although originally produced as chemical warfare agents, they were the first chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of canc ...
with his colleague, Louis S. Goodman. The pair also published the classic textbook ''
The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics ''Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics'', commonly referred to as the Blue Bible or Goodman & Gilman, is a textbook of pharmacology originally authored by Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman. First published in 1941, th ...
'' in 1941, and Gilman served as an editor for its first six editions. Gilman served on the faculties of the
Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...
, the
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (officially known as Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons) is the medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving ...
, and the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...
, where he founded the Department of Pharmacology. He was a member of U.S.
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
.


Life and career

Gilman was born February 5, 1908, in
Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...
, to Joseph Gilman and Rebecca Ives Gilman. Joseph Gilman owned a music store in Bridgeport, and his son learned to play several musical instruments. Unlike his father, however, Alfred Gilman turned to science, receiving a bachelor's degree from
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
in 1928 and Ph.D. in Physiological Chemistry from Yale in 1931 for a dissertation entitled "Chemical and Physiological Investigations on Canine Gastric Secretion." He then joined of the Department of Pharmacology at the Yale School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow, where he and Louis S. Goodman, a young M.D., became colleagues and close friends. In 1934, a year before joining the Yale faculty as an assistant professor, he married Mabel Schmidt. Their daughter, Joanna, was born in 1938, and their son,
Alfred Goodman Gilman Alfred Goodman Gilman (July 1, 1941 – December 23, 2015) was an American pharmacologist and biochemist. He and Martin Rodbell shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these prot ...
, in 1941. The younger Alfred Gilman, whose middle name was taken from Louis Goodman, followed his father into pharmacology and was awarded the 1994
Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accor ...
. While teaching together, Goodman and Gilman perceived a need for an updated textbook in pharmacology that reflected advances in medicine and clarified the linkages between
pharmacodynamics Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or comb ...
and
pharmacotherapy Pharmacotherapy, also known as pharmacological therapy or drug therapy, is defined as medical treatment that utilizes one or more pharmaceutical drugs to improve ongoing symptoms (symptomatic relief), treat the underlying condition, or act as a p ...
. With assistance from Mabel, the text was first published in 1941 by the
Macmillan Publishing Company Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...
as ''The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics'', and Gilman remained a senior editor for its first six editions. The seventh was released shortly after his death. Shortly after publishing the first edition of his textbook, Gilman became section chief of pharmacology at the US Army's
Edgewood Arsenal Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at APG. There are 11 major commands among the tenant units, ...
. Still affiliated with Yale, where Dean Milton C. Winternitz had recently signed a government contract with the
Office of Scientific Research and Development The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May ...
to investigate agents of chemical warfare, Gilman and Goodman were assigned a study of
nitrogen mustard Nitrogen mustards (NMs) are cytotoxic organic compounds with the bis(2-chloroethyl)amino ((ClC2H4)2NR) functional group. Although originally produced as chemical warfare agents, they were the first chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of canc ...
. Interested in bone marrow depletion effects of
mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wi ...
discovered by Edward and Helen Krumbhaar during World War I, Gilman and Goodman conducted trials on mice to research on the compounds'
cytotoxic Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells. Examples of toxic agents are toxic metals, toxic chemicals, microbe neurotoxins, radiation particles and even specific neurotransmitters when the system is out of balance. Also some types of dr ...
properties for
white blood cells White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...
. In August 1942, only a few months after their initial experiments, they began trials on a patient of thoracic surgeon Gustaf Lindskog whose lymphosarcoma had not responded to radiation therapy. Although the intravenous nitrogen mustard regimen caused the tumor to completely recede, it regenerated within a month, and the patient died several months later. A larger clinical trial followed, and a paper was released after the studies were declassified in 1946. Gilman and Goodman are credited with the first use of intravenous chemotherapy treatment. After leaving his Army post in 1946, Gilman joined the faculty of Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons and moved to
White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...
, then became the chairman of the new Department of Pharmacology at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...
in 1956. During this period, Gilman shifted his focus to
diuretics A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics in ...
and kidney function. Gilman returned to Yale in 1973, where he remained as a lecturer until his death. He died at home in New Haven in 1984.


Awards and honors

Gilman was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
in 1964 and chaired its Drug Efficacy Review Committee. He received an honorary doctorate from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
in 1979.


See also

*
History of cancer chemotherapy The era of cancer chemotherapy began in the 1940s with the first use of nitrogen mustards and folic acid antagonist drugs. The targeted therapy revolution has arrived, but many of the principles and limitations of chemotherapy discovered by th ...


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilman Sr., Alfred 1908 births 1984 deaths People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Yale College alumni Yale School of Medicine faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American pharmacologists Columbia University faculty Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty 20th-century American chemists