Monday, October 21, 2013
I was shocked to learn that a woman who is two years younger than me, is dead at the age of 67. Her book Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, is my all-time favorite book. It describes a gutsy, renegade scientist who wouldn?t accept the status quo in the scientific world. I had the honor of meeting Candace Pert several times at Hay House events. She was a large, imposing presence, both physically and energetically. She gave great hugs and had an infectious laugh. Pert was a neuroscientist who helped discover a fundamental element of brain chemistry as a graduate student and went on to become a major proponent of alternative medicine. You will remember her from the movie: What the Bleep Do You Know!? Dr. Pert was working at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the 1970s when a team she was on found one of the most sought-after objects in brain research: the receptor in the brain that opiates like morphine fit into, like a key in a lock, allowing the drug?s effects to work. The discovery of the opioid receptor would, in 1978, earn the coveted Albert Lasker Award, often a precursor to the Nobel Prize. However, the award went to Solomon H. Snyder, who headed the lab. Neither Dr. Pert nor any of the other lab assistants was cited. Apparently such omissions are common in the world of science; the graduate student in the lab rarely gets credit beyond being the first name on the papers describing the research. But Dr. Pert did something unusual: she protested, sending a letter to the head of the foundation that awards the prize, saying she had ?played a key role in initiating the research and following it up? and was ?angry and upset to be excluded.? That?s Candace! Her letter caused a sensation in the field. Some saw her exclusion as an example of the burdens and barriers women face in science careers. In a 1979 article about Dr. Pert in the The Washington Post, Dr. Snyder, who had lauded Dr. Pert?s contributions in his Lasker acceptance speech, argued (if you can imagine) that ?that?s the way the game is played,? adding that today?s graduate students will be tomorrow?s lab chiefs, and that ?when they have students, it will be the same.? The two later reconciled. In a recent interview, Dr. Snyder, now a professor in the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, called Dr. Pert ?one of the most creative, innovative graduate students I had ever mentored.? Ironically, Solomon Snyder will speak at her memorial service.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/science/candace-pert-67-explorer-of-the-brain-dies.html?_r=0