This annual lecture honors the memory and contributions of Dr. Michael J. Brody, a distinguished professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa.

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Dr. Brody attended the Bronx High School of Science and later Columbia University (BS, Pharmacy) before moving to the University of Michigan where he earned a PhD in pharmacology in 1961. That same year, he joined the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa and established himself as a highly effective and respected educator and mentor, a leading figure in collegiate and university governance, and an internationally-honored scientist for his contributions to understanding the mechanisms of hypertension.

Dr. Brody received many awards during his distinguished career, including the Okamoto Award (1987) and the CIBA Award for Hypertension Research (1990). The awards Dr. Body valued most however, were those he received for outstanding instruction from medical and other students. He mentored more than 20 doctoral students, more than 40 postdoctoral fellows and influenced countless others who passed through the graduate program. It is thus fitting that graduate students, about whom he cared so much, select and invite each year a distinguished scientist to present the Michael J. Brody Memorial Lecture.

The following speakers have presented this lecture:

Beth Stevens, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
"Mapping Microglia States to Function in Development & Disease"
March 21, 2024

Charles Zuker, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and Neuroscience, Columbia University, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Jerome L. Greene Science Center
"The Body-Brain Axis: From Sugar and Fat to Immunigy"
November 16, 2023

Lin Tian, PhD
Associate Professor, Vice Chair of Research, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of California - Davis
"Watching the Brain in Action: Creating Tools for Functional Analysis of Neural Circuitry"
November 18, 2021

Vamsi K. Mootha, MD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Instiute, Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School
"Hypoxia as a Therapy for Mitochondrial Disease"
October 15, 2020

Michael Friedman, MD, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Marily M. Simpson Professor, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, The Rockefeller University
"Leptin and the Homeostatic Control of Food Intake and Body Weight"
November 14, 2019

Douglas Lowy, MD
NIH Distinguished Investigator, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, Deputy Director, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
"Global Control of HPV-associated Cancers by Vaccination and Screening"
October 18, 2018

C. Ronald Kahn, MD
Section Head, Integrative Physiology and Metabolism, Joslin Diabetes Center Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
"Plasticity of Adipose Tissue and Its Communication in Metabolic Disease"
October 31, 2017

Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD*
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
"Seven Transmembrane Receptors"
October 5, 2016

Gail Mandel, PhD
Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Repressor Mechanisms and Pathways to Disease"
October 15, 2015

Ardem Patapoutian, PhD
Professor of Cell Biology, Dorris Neuroscience Center, The Scripps Research Institute, Director of Discovery Research, Genomics Institute, Novartis Research Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Ion Channels Involved in Sensing Mechanical Force"
October 16, 2014

Charles T. Esmon, PhD
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Lloyd Nobel Chair, Cardiovascular Biology, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
"The Role of the Protein C Pathway and Histones in the Control of Coagulation and Inflammation"
September 19, 2013

Erica A. Golemis, PhD
Deputy Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President, Co-Chair, Developmental Therapeutic Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center
"Nedd9 & Aurora-A Integrating Multiple Signaling Pathways in Cancer and Other Pathologies"
October 2, 2012

David Clapham, MD, PhD
Aldo R. Castaneda Professor of Cardiovascular Research, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Novel Ion Channels"
October 20, 2011

Nathaniel Heintz, PhD
James and Marilyn Simons Professor, The Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Genetic Dissection of the Mouse Nervous System: Toward a 21st Century Brain Pharmacology
October 28, 2010

Pietro De Camilli, MD
Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology and Neurobiology, Director, Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair, Yale University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Molecular Mechanisms of Endocytosis"
November 19, 2009

Allan Basbaum, PhD, FRS
Professor and Chair, Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco
"The Neurobiology of Pain: From Molecules, to Circuits to Behavior"
October 21, 2008

Randy Schekman, PhD*
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Transport Vesicle Biogenesis: Mechanism and Disease Connections"
September 13, 2007

Joan Brugge, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
"Morphogenesis and Oncogenesis in 3D Epithelial Cultures"
January 8, 2007

Susan Taylor, PhD
Professor, Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
"Dynamics and Signaling by PKA"
November 22, 2005 

Timothy Hunt, PhD*
Cancer Research UK, Cell Cycle Control Laboratory, London Research Institute, Co-Recipient 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine
"The Control of the Cell Cycle"
October 13, 2004

Ferid Murad, MD, PhD*
Professor and Chairman, Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, University of Texas Medical School
"Role of Nitric Oxide and Cyclic GMP in Cell Signaling and Vasodilation"
October 23, 2003

Erwin Neher, PhD*
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
"Exploring the Functional Role of Synaptic Proteins with Rapid Techniques"
November 1, 2002

Bertil Hille, PhD
Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington
"How Do G-protein Coupled Receptors Rule the Mind?"
February 6, 2002

J. Michael Bishop, MD*
Chancellor, University of California, San Francisco
"Modeling the Molecular Pathogenesis of Cancer"
October 10, 2000

Tony Hunter, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Virology Laboratory, Salk Institute
"Cell Signaling by Phosphorylation"
November 9, 1999

Oliver Smithies, DPhil*
Excellence Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
"A Mouse View of Hypertension"
August 24, 1998

Kenneth W. Culver, MD
Director, Gene Therapy Research, Codon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
"From Gene Transfer to Gene Repair: Lessons from Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency"
October 16, 1997

Edwin G. Krebs, PhD*
Professor Emeritus, Departments of Pharmacology and Biochemistry, University of Washington at Seattle
"Intracellular Networks Involved in Growth Factor Signaling"
October 30, 1996

Lee E. Limbird, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
"Receptor Strategies for Achieving Selectivity in Signal Transduction: Alpha2-Adrenergic Receptors Select Among Discrete Effectors and Cellular Microdomains"
September 28, 1995

Alfred Goodman Gilman, PhD*
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, UT Southwestern
1994

Robert F. Furchgott, PhD*
Professor, Department of Pharmacology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
1993

*Nobel Laureates