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Remembering Ferid Murad, Nobel Laureate and triple alumnus

Renowned researcher helped reveal answers to a century-long mystery

Photo: Dwight C. Andrews, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Office of CommunicationsNobel laureate Ferid Murad used skills gained at CWRU to build a robust career that ranged from working at the National Institutes of Health to Abbott Laboratories.

The seven years Ferid Murad spent at what's now Case Western Reserve University set the stage for a seminal discovery that would not only earn him a Nobel Prize, but also transform modern understanding of the cardio-vascular system.

The university's School of Medicine had launched the nation's first combined MD/PhD program just two years before Murad arrived in 1958. He had wanted to be a physician since age 12, but, after hearing of the innovative program, hoped that adding the element of research would allow him to make a greater impact—and it did.

In 1998, Murad and two other researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. At the time, he was inaugural chair of the University of Texas-Houston's Integrative Biology, Pharmacology and Physiology Department.

Murad died at age 86 in September at his home in Menlo Park, California.

The work Murad (MED '64, '65; GRS '65, pharmacology; HON '00) did with his CWRU campus mentors planted the seeds for the career-defining research he later launched at the University of Virginia. Physicians had used nitroglycerin since 1878 as one way to treat heart conditions and expand blood vessels. But why it worked wasn't clear. Murad discovered the drug emitted nitric oxide—and that's what led to the dilation.

The discovery was "unexpected, novel and received with initial skepticism," said Sudha Chakrapani, PhD, the John H. Hord Professor and chair of pharmacology at the CWRU School of Medicine. "But it led to a greater understanding of nitric oxide's role in cell communication and coordination of physiological processes throughout the body."

A PIONEER AND MOONLIGHTER

Murad was born and raised in Whiting, Indiana, in a small apartment behind his parents' restaurant. He and his two brothers worked at the family business, but were encouraged to pursue education—an opportunity not afforded to their parents or several members of the extended family.

Murad became the first in his family to go to college, attending DePauw University on a prestigious merit scholarship. There, he met his future wife, Carol Ann Leopold.

The newlyweds moved to Cleveland in 1958 and eventually had five children. Though the medical school covered his tuition, Murad's annual stipend was just $2,000. So he began moonlighting at Cleveland Clinic on the OB/ GYN service to make ends meet, sometimes working all night, only to face a full day of classes the next morning.

Yet, he thrived at the university and said in his Nobel Prize personal essay that he was first in his class every year. "I was in my element and loved it," he wrote.

Murad used the skills he gained on campus to build a robust and varied career, from conducting cardiovascular research at the National Institutes of Health to overseeing pharmaceutical discovery and development at Abbott Laboratories as a vice president. CWRU awarded him an honorary degree in 2000.

"Dr. Murad's research opened up new avenues for treating a wide range of diseases, such as hypertension, erectile dysfunction, arthritis and cancer," Chakrapani said. "He truly had a far-reaching impact on human health."

— CAREY SKINNER MOSS