George H. Hitchings

About George H. Hitchings

Who is it?: Physiologist
Birth Day: April 18, 1905
Birth Place: Hoquiam, Washington, United States, United States
Died On: February 27, 1998 (1998-02-28) (aged 92)
Birth Sign: Taurus
Alma mater: University of Washington Harvard University
Known for: chemotherapy
Awards: Gairdner Foundation International Award (1968) ForMemRS (1974) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1988)
Institutions: Case Western Reserve University Duke University

George H. Hitchings Net Worth

George H. Hitchings was born on April 18, 1905 in Hoquiam, Washington, United States, United States, is Physiologist. George H. Hitchings was an American doctor who was one of the co-recipients of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was renowned for his medical research, especially his groundbreaking work on chemotherapy. His works paved the way for the development of life-saving drugs to treat diseases like leukemia, gout, and disorders of the human immunity system. Born into a loving family in Washington, he enjoyed a happy childhood for a few years before his father was stricken with an incurable illness. After a prolonged battle for his life, he died when George was just 12 years old. The illness and untimely death of his father had a profound impact on the young boy and he decided to become a doctor on growing up. Intelligent and determined, he made his way into the University of Washington as a premedical student in 1923. He found the intellectual atmosphere of the university very stimulating and graduated with a degree in chemistry. After completing his master’s degree, he proceeded to the Harvard University and earned his doctorate. Years later while working for Wellcome Research Laboratories he collaborated with Gertrude Elion and the duo began their work on drug therapies for malaria, leukemia, gout, organ transplantation and bacterial infections. Their extraordinary work earned the pair the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
George H. Hitchings is a member of Scientists

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Awards and nominations:

Hitchings was awarded the Passano award by the Passano Foundation in 1969, and the de Villiers award in 1970. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1974.

Biography/Timeline

1905

Hitchings was born in Hoquiam, Washington, in 1905, and grew up there, in Berkeley, California, San Diego, Bellingham, Washington, and Seattle. He graduated from Seattle's Franklin High School, where he was salutatorian, in 1923, and from there went to the University of Washington, from which he graduated with a degree in chemistry cum laude in 1927, after having been elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior the year before. That summer, he worked at the university's Puget Sound Biological Station at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island [1], and received a master's degree the next year for his thesis based on that work.

1933

From the University of Washington, Hitchings went to Harvard University as a teaching fellow, ending up at Harvard Medical School. Before getting his Ph.D. in 1933, he joined Alpha Chi Sigma in 1929.

1942

Following his PhD, he worked at Harvard and Case Western Reserve University. In 1942, he went to work for Wellcome Research Laboratories, where he began working with Gertrude Elion in 1944. Drugs Hitchings' team worked on included 2,6-diaminopurine (a compound to treat leukemia) and p-chlorophenoxy-2,4-diaminopyrimidine (a folic acid antagonist). According to his Nobel Prize autobiography,

1967

In 1967 Hitchings became Vice President in Charge of Research of Burroughs-Wellcome. He became Scientist Emeritus in 1976. He also served as Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and of Experimental Medicine from 1970 to 1985 at Duke University. Hitchings died in 1998 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Hitchings founded the Triangle Community Foundation in 1983. Hitchings is a member of the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. His wife died in 1985.

1969

Hitchings was awarded the Passano award by the Passano Foundation in 1969, and the de Villiers award in 1970. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1974.