Stress The International Journal on the Biology of Stress
ISSN: 1025-3890 (Print) 1607-8888 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ists20
Obituary David S. Goldstein To cite this article: David S. Goldstein (2017) Obituary, Stress, 20:1, 1-1, DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090
Published online: 02 Feb 2017.
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Date: 04 August 2017, At: 03:44
STRESS, 2017 VOL. 20, NO. 1, 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090
Downloaded by [67.197.248.142] at 03:44 04 August 2017
Obituary
It is difficult for me to write that Richard Kvetnansky was a giant in the field of stress and catecholamine systems. Not that he wasn’t; he most definitely was. But I have to write, sadly, “was,” not “is.” Richard was a true scientific pioneer in this area, beginning with his development, with Irv Kopin at the National Institutes of Health, of a scientifically elegant experimental model to obtain blood via an indwelling cannula in rats exposed to various stressors such as immobilization. According to PubMed their first published study appeared in 1970, and they were coauthors of numerous papers for almost 30 years. As the era of prolonged human space flight began, Richard was at the forefront in carrying out key experiments on catecholamine systems in cosmonauts. With the expansion of molecular biologic techniques, Richard embarked on a very fruitful collaboration with Esther Sabban on the molecular biology of catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes, a collaboration that spanned more than 20 years. His research with many other leaders in the field, such as Miki Palkovits, Zofia-Zukowska, Juan Saavedra, Richard McCarty, Gabor Makara, George Chrousos, Phil Gold and Karel Pacak stands out. He also fostered the careers of many rising investigators in the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, including Daniela Jezova. Daniela presided over the Eleventh Symposium on Catecholamines and Other Neurotransmitters in Stress in 2015; Richard, by then retired, was the Honorary Chair. I remember Richard for his ingratiating grin, his zeal for the research, his gracious hospitality, his curiosity, and his attention to detail in getting the data down before trying to interpret them. I remember his research notebooks, in which he would meticulously tabulate the experimental data by
ß 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
hand. I would then transfer the data into Excel spreadsheets on a Macintosh desktop—Excel 2000, 95, 5, 4, 2, and if I recall correctly, just Excel. Surely a highlight for researchers on catecholamines and other neurotransmitters in stress was the quadrennial symposium Richard organized on this topic at the castle in Smolenice, in his beloved country. He did this for 40 years. The singing, dancing, musical performances, food, foliage and setting, the trumpet fanfares at the opening ceremonies, and the lectures by the likes of Julie Axelrod are embedded in my memory. This series saw the remarkable transition from the communist, authoritarian USSR to the free Slovak Republic. International attendees would travel by bus from the Vienna airport and cross the border near Bratislava. The first time I did this, the bus was stopped for a long time as soldiers with submachine guns inspected passports. The last time I did this, one hardly realized there was a border at all. Mostly, I remember the lecture room in the castle where some of the world’s leading authorities about catecholamines and other neurotransmitters in stress would sit, listen, question, and learn, all in one room, for a few precious, packed days at a time. As Bob Dylan sang, “I wish, I wish, I wish in vain, that we could sit simply in that room again.” David S. Goldstein Clinical Neurocardiology Section, Clinical Neurosciences Program, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA NIH Clinical Center, USA [email protected]
ISSN: 1025-3890 (Print) 1607-8888 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ists20
Obituary David S. Goldstein To cite this article: David S. Goldstein (2017) Obituary, Stress, 20:1, 1-1, DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090
Published online: 02 Feb 2017.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 111
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ists20 Download by: [67.197.248.142]
Date: 04 August 2017, At: 03:44
STRESS, 2017 VOL. 20, NO. 1, 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10253890.2017.1283090
Downloaded by [67.197.248.142] at 03:44 04 August 2017
Obituary
It is difficult for me to write that Richard Kvetnansky was a giant in the field of stress and catecholamine systems. Not that he wasn’t; he most definitely was. But I have to write, sadly, “was,” not “is.” Richard was a true scientific pioneer in this area, beginning with his development, with Irv Kopin at the National Institutes of Health, of a scientifically elegant experimental model to obtain blood via an indwelling cannula in rats exposed to various stressors such as immobilization. According to PubMed their first published study appeared in 1970, and they were coauthors of numerous papers for almost 30 years. As the era of prolonged human space flight began, Richard was at the forefront in carrying out key experiments on catecholamine systems in cosmonauts. With the expansion of molecular biologic techniques, Richard embarked on a very fruitful collaboration with Esther Sabban on the molecular biology of catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes, a collaboration that spanned more than 20 years. His research with many other leaders in the field, such as Miki Palkovits, Zofia-Zukowska, Juan Saavedra, Richard McCarty, Gabor Makara, George Chrousos, Phil Gold and Karel Pacak stands out. He also fostered the careers of many rising investigators in the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, including Daniela Jezova. Daniela presided over the Eleventh Symposium on Catecholamines and Other Neurotransmitters in Stress in 2015; Richard, by then retired, was the Honorary Chair. I remember Richard for his ingratiating grin, his zeal for the research, his gracious hospitality, his curiosity, and his attention to detail in getting the data down before trying to interpret them. I remember his research notebooks, in which he would meticulously tabulate the experimental data by
ß 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
hand. I would then transfer the data into Excel spreadsheets on a Macintosh desktop—Excel 2000, 95, 5, 4, 2, and if I recall correctly, just Excel. Surely a highlight for researchers on catecholamines and other neurotransmitters in stress was the quadrennial symposium Richard organized on this topic at the castle in Smolenice, in his beloved country. He did this for 40 years. The singing, dancing, musical performances, food, foliage and setting, the trumpet fanfares at the opening ceremonies, and the lectures by the likes of Julie Axelrod are embedded in my memory. This series saw the remarkable transition from the communist, authoritarian USSR to the free Slovak Republic. International attendees would travel by bus from the Vienna airport and cross the border near Bratislava. The first time I did this, the bus was stopped for a long time as soldiers with submachine guns inspected passports. The last time I did this, one hardly realized there was a border at all. Mostly, I remember the lecture room in the castle where some of the world’s leading authorities about catecholamines and other neurotransmitters in stress would sit, listen, question, and learn, all in one room, for a few precious, packed days at a time. As Bob Dylan sang, “I wish, I wish, I wish in vain, that we could sit simply in that room again.” David S. Goldstein Clinical Neurocardiology Section, Clinical Neurosciences Program, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA NIH Clinical Center, USA [email protected]
