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Bruce Hammock delivered the 2012 William K. and Carmela L. Riker Memorial Lecture. |
DAVIS--Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, presented the 29th William K. and Carmela L. Riker Memorial Lecture recently at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Portland, Ore.
Hammock, who holds a joint appointment in cancer research at the UC Davis School of Medicine, spoke on "Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase as a Target for Treating Inflammation and Pain."
Research done on mammals and insects has yielded an enzyme inhibitor which may play an important role in treating diabetes, hypertension, and inflammatory disease, he told the crowd. His research took the compound from early investigation to clinical trials.
Hammock is on sabbatical with Palmer Taylor, dean of Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences School of Pharmacy, UC San Diego, and at the UC Diego School of Medicine’s pain clinic.
In conjunction with the lecture, Hammock met the three daughters of William and Carmella Riker at the reception: Gainor Riker, Eleanor "Ellie" Wellstead and Victoria "Vikki" Smith.
The Riker Lecture fund honors the memories of William K. Riker (1925-2004), chair of Pharmacology at OHSU for 21 years, and his wife, Carmela Louise, who died in 1981. She was active in the Medical School Alliance and OHSU Volunteer Services. This lectureship, established in 1981 and initially named the Carmela Louise Riker Memorial Lecture, supports an annual invited lecture by a distinguished scientist and educator in the field of pharmacology.
The Riker family has deep roots in pharmacology. William's brother, Walter Riker, who died in 2004, chaired the Department of Pharmacology at Cornell.
Last year’s speaker was cancer researcher Angela Hartley Brodie, PhD. professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Maryland. She is well known for her work in the development of aromatase inhibitors used in the treatment of breast cancer.
Among the recent speakers:
2010:
Larry Marnett, Ph.D.
Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research; professor of biochemistry; professor of chemistry, Vanderbilt University
2009::
Allan Rettie, Ph.D.
Professor and chair, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
University of Washington
2008:
David Colquhoun, Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacology, University College London
2007:
Dr. Garret A. FitzGerald, M.D.
Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics & Clinical Research Center
Director, Institute for Translational Medicine & Therapeutics
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Related links:
Bench to Bedside Research
Big Federal Grant Renewed: Hammock, Principal Investigator
Bruce Hammock Named ESA Fellow
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
