2022 Colin Nichols, Ph.D,
Carl Cori Professor, Cell Biology and Physiology, CIMED Director, Washington University
"KATP channel pathology: A whole body experience"

2019 Catherine Dulac, Ph.D.
Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Investigator, HHMI
"Neurobiology of Social Behavior Circuits"

2019 Ehud Y. Isacoff, Ph.D.
Director, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Professor of Neurobiology, UC Berkeley
"Conformational dynamics and dimer tuning of metabotropic glutamate receptors"

2018 Marc Montminy, MD, Ph.D.
Professor, Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology,
and J.W. Kieckhefer Foundation Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
"Can You Hear Me Now? How CREB and its Cofactors Activate Distinct Metabolic Programs in Different Tissues"

2017 Richard D. Palmiter, Ph.D.
Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor of Biochemistry and Genome Sciences
University of Washington
"A neural circuit that responds to threats and controls appetite"

2016 David Paterson, Ph.D.
Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology, University of Oxford
Watch the lecture.
"Neurocardiology: therapeutic opportunity?"

2015 David J. Anderson, Ph.D.
Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology
Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute California Institute of Technology
"Internal states and behavioral decisions: the paradox of sex and violence"

2014 Dennis A. Dougherty, Ph.D.
George Grant Hoag Professor of Chemistry
California Institute of Technology
"Chemistry on the Brain: Understanding the Nicotine Receptor"

2013 Cori Bargmann, Ph.D.
Investigator, HHMI
Torsten N. Wiesel Professor
The Rockefeller University
President of Science for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative 
"Neuromodulation and regulation of long-term behavioral states"

2012 William A. Catterall, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Pharmacology
University of Washington
"Structure and Function of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels at Atomic Resolution"

2011 Joseph S. Takahashi, Ph.D.
Investigator, HHMI
Department of Neuroscience
University of Texas SW Medical Center
"Genetic Analysis of Circadian Clocks in Mammals"

2010 Jeffrey M. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D.
Investigator, HHMI
Marilyn M Simpson Professor
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics
The Rockefeller University
2010 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
"Leptin and the Biologic Basis of Obesity"

2009 Henry A. Lester, Ph.D.
Bren Professor of Biology
California Institute of Technology
"Changes in the Brain Produced by Chronic Exposure to Nicotine"

2008 Mu-Ming Poo, Ph.D.
Paul Licht Distinguished Professor in Biology
Head, Division of Neurobiology
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley
"Spike timing dependent plasticity - Hebb's postulate revisited"

2007 Peter C. Agre, M.D., Ph.D.
2003 Nobel Prize Recipient in Chemistry
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology
Vice Chancellor for Science and Technology
Duke University School of Medicine, NC
"Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Clinical Medicine"

2006 Arthur Karlin, Ph.D.
Higgins Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Director, Center for Molecular Recognition
Columbia University, New York, NY
"The Elusive Gates of CYS-Loop Receptors"

2005 Lily Y. Jan, Ph.D.
Jack & DeLoris Lange Endowed Chair in Physiology & Biophysics
University of California, San Francisco, CA
"Potassium Channels"

2004 Huda Akil, Ph.D.
Gardner C. Quarton Distinguished
University Professor of Neurosciences
Co-Director and Research Professor
Mental Health Research Institute
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
"Searching for the Neurobiological Basis of Moods and Emotions"

2003 Gary Yellen, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
"The Moving Parts of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels"

2002 Chris Miller, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Brandeis University, MA
"Chloride Channels in Bacteria: They're Not Just for Structural Biologists Any More!"

2001 John E. Dowling, Ph.D.
Llura and Gordon Gund Professor of Neuroscience
Harvard University, MA
"Fishing for Novel Genes"

2000 Clay M. Armstrong, M.D.
Professor of Physiology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, PA
Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 1999
with Bertil Hille and Roderick MacKinnon
"Selectivity, Block and Gating in Ion Channels: Subtle Relations"

1998 William D. Willis Jr., M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Chair, and Chief of the Division of Comparative Neurobiology
Marine Biomedical Institute University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
"The Role of Second Messenger Systems in Central Sensitization of Spinothalamic Neurons"

1997 Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology & Chemistry
University of California, San Diego
2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"Mechanism of Cerebellar Long-Term Depression Elucidated with Caged Compounds"

1996 Bertil Hille, Ph.D.
Professor of Physiology & Biophysics
University of Washington School of Medicine
Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 1999
"Rapid Signaling Mechanisms in the Neuroendocrine Control of the Pituitary"

1995 Wylie W. Vale, Ph.D.
Professor, Laboratory Head and Helen McLoraine Chair in Molecular Neurobiology
Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology 
Salk Institute for Biological Studies, CA
"Activin and the Receptor Serine Kinase Superfamily"

1994 Floyd E. Bloom, M.D.
Professor of Molecular & Integrative Neurosciences
Scripps Research Institute
"Neuronal Messengers and Their Messages"

1993 Professor Bert Sakmann
1991 Nobel Prize Recipient in Physiology or Medicine,
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Director, Department of Cell Physiology
Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg
"Quantal and Molecular Components Excitatory of Synaptic Transmission in the Central Nervous System"

1992 David H. Hubel, M.D.
John Enders University Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard University, MA
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1981)
NY Times link
"Eye, Brain and Perception"

1991 A.J. Hudspeth, M.D., Ph.D.
F. M. Kirby Professor
Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience
Rockefeller University, NY
"Initial Events in Hearing and Equilibrium: Transduction Mechanisms of Hair Cells of the Inner Ear"

Past speakers

2022 Herbert Waldmann, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Chemical Biology
Max Plank Institute of Molecular Physiology
"Chemotype - Phenotype - Target"

2018 Michel Bouvier, Ph.D.
Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
University of Montreal, Canada
"Functional Selectivity and Spatio-Temporal propagation of GPCR signaling; from structural Determinants to better drugs?"

2015 Bryan Roth, Ph.D.
Michael J. Hooker Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology
University of North Caroline, Chapel Hill
Watch the video.
"Illuminating a subterranean pharmacology"

 2014 Robert J. Lefkowitz, MD
James B. Duke Professor of Medicine
Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"Seven Transmembrane Receptors"

2013 Alexander D. MacKerell Jr., Ph.D.
Grollman-Glick Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Maryland
"Toward opioid analgesics with decreased adverse side effects: From ligand-based to GPCR-based computer-aided drug design:

2012 Susan G. Amara, Ph.D.
Thomas Detre Professor and Chair
Department of Neurobiology
University of Pittsburgh
*Currently, Director of Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Mental Health
"A new take on uptake: neurotransmitter transporters and the activation of cellular signaling pathways by amphetamines"

2012 David J. Mangelsdorf, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Investigator, HHMI
Beatrice and Miguel Elias Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science
University of Texas SW Medical Center
"Nuclear Receptors, FGFs and Metabolism"

2010 David E. Clapham, M.D., Ph.D.
Aldo R. Castaneda Professor of Cardiovascular Research
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Harvard Medical School
"Navigating through Ion Channels"

2009 Dorothee Kern, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
Brandeis University
"The choreography of an enzyme's dance"

2008 Brian Kobilka, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Stanford University, CA
2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"Structure and Dynamics of the Beta 2 Adrenergic Receptor"

2007 Keith Yamamoto, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology
Executive Vice Dean, School of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
"How a Single Regulatory Factor Can Specify Complex Transcription Networks"

2006 David Julius, Ph.D.
Professor & Vice Chair
Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
University of California, San Francisco
"From Peppers to Peppermints: Molecular Insights into Somatosensation and Pain"

2005 Richard H. Goodman, M.D., Ph.D.
Director & Senior Scientist,
The Vollum Institute, OHSU, Portland, OR
"CREB Control of Gene Networks - Time for a New Model?"

2004 Joan Heller Brown, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor of Pharmacology
University of California, San Diego
"G-proteins, Ca2+ and CaMKII Signaling to Cardiomyocyte Growth and Apoptosis"

2003 Jeffery W. Kelly, Ph.D.
Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute,
The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, La Jolla, CA
"Understanding the Energetics of Amyloidosis and Manipulating the Landscape with Small Molecules and Trans-Suppression to Prevent Disease"

2002 Arvid Carlsson, M.D.
2000 Nobel Prize Recipient for Physiology or Medicine,
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
"The Paradigm Shift in Brain Research from "Sparks to "Soup" and Its Impact on Neurology and Psychiatry"

2000 Lee E. Limbird, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair of Biomedical Sciences
Vice President for Research, Meharry Medical College
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
*currently at Fisk University
"Signaling Specificity of G Protein-Coupled Receptors: The Importance of Location"

1999 Donald Coffey, Ph.D.
The Catherine Iola and J. Smith Michael Distinguished Professor of Urology
Professor of Oncology and Pharmacology
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
"Science, Creativity, and Human Destiny"

1998 William A. Catterall, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Pharmacology
University of Washington
"Structure, Function and Molecular Pharmacology of Voltage-gated Sodium Channels"

1996 Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.)
1994 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science
Nadine and Tom Craddick Distinguished Chair in Medical Science
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX
"G Proteins and Regulation of Adenylyl Cy"

Past speakers

2023 Kim E. Barrett, Ph.D.
Vice Dean for Research
University of California, Davis
"Surviving and Thriving in Academia"

2022 Laura Bohn, Ph.D.,
Professor and Chair
Molecular Medicine
UF Scripps Biomedical Research
University of Florida
"Modulating opioid receptor signaling to improve the therapeutic window"

2021 Pieter R. Cullis, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of British Columbia 
"The science behind your COVID shot: Lipid nanoparticles, gene therapy and COVID-19 vaccines"

2019 Robert Russell, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Bioquant and Vice Dean
(Research) Life Sciences, Heidelberg University
"A whirlwind of G-proteins, GPCRs and Genetic variants and Cancer"

2013 Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D.
D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering 
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, HHMI
Stanford University
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
"Optical Deconstruction of Fully-assembled Biological Systems"

2012 Bruce D. Hammock, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Entomology
Department of Entomology and Cancer Center
University of California, Davis
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
"Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase as a Target for Treating Inflammation and Pain"

2011 Angela Hartley Brodie, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
University of Maryland
Angela Hartley Brodie - Wikipedia
"Aromatase Inhibitors and Breast Cancer - Concept to Clinic"

2010 Lawrence J. Marnett, Ph.D.
Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research
Professor of Biochemistry, and Professor of Chemistry
Vanderbilt University
Marnett lab
"Endocannabinoids as Substrates and Probes for the Function of Cyclooxygenase-2"

2009 Allan E. Rettie, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
University of Washington
"Warfarin Pharmacogenomics: A Model for Personalized Medicine"

2008 David Colquhoun, Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacology
University College London
Fellow of the Royal Society
David Colquhoun - Wikipedia
"On the nature of partial agonism: single channels allow a new way of looking at an old problem"

2007 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
"Cyclooxygenases: Their Products and Inhibitors"

2006 Bert W. O'Malley, M.D.
Tom Thompson Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Director, Baylor Center for Reproductive Biology
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX"The Biological and Medical Implications of Steroid Receptor Coactivators"

2005 Bradley J. Undem, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine at John Hopkins University"Pharmacology of Vagal Sensory Nerve Activation"

2004 D. James Surmeier, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology
Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL"The Mystery of Postsynaptic D2 Receptor Signaling in the Striatum"

2003 Darrell R. Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Molecular Science
John Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine
"Structural Diversity of the L-Type Calcium Channel: Relating Structure to Function for Pharmacology and Physiology"

2002 Brian J. Druker, M.D.
JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research
Knight Cancer Institute, OHSU
2009 Lasker-Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award
Howard Hughes Investigator
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Brian Druker - Wikipedia
"Targeted Cancer Therapies: Lessons Learned from ST1571 and Chronic Mylogenous Leukemia"

 2001 Ronald Evans, Ph.D.
March of Dimes Chair in Developmental and Molecular Biology 
Professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2004 Lasker Basic Science Award
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
"Nuclear Receptors, SXR and the Xenobiotic Response"

2000 Robert Freedman, M.D.
Human Medical Genetics Program
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
"Nicotinic Receptors in Schizophrenia"

1999 Frances M. Leslie, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Anatomy and Neurobiology
Director, Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center
University of California, Irvine
"The Influence of Nicotine on Brain Development"

1998 Barry J. Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Cellular Neurophysiology Section, Intramural Research Section
National Institute on Drug Abuse
"Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Dopamine Neurons"

1996 Hazel Hon Szeto, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology
Weill Cornell Medical College,
Cornell University
"Mechanisms of Dynorphin-Mediated Release of Adrenocorticotrophin"

1995 Raymond L. Woosley, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Georgetown University School of Medicine
"Prescriptions, Pills and Blind Faith"

1994 V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., D.Sc
Professor of Cancer Pharmacology
Director, Breast Cancer Research Program, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Northwestern University Medical School
"Antiestrogens: Targeted Tools in Molecular Biology and Therapeutic Applications for Breast Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease and Osteoporosis"

1993 F. Peter Guengerich, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry
Director, Center in Molecular Toxicity
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
"Human Cytochrome p450 Enzymes: Characterization, Properties and Relevance to Drug Metabolism and Efficacy"

1992 R. Alan North, M.D., Ph.D.
"Potassium Channels: The First 50 Years and the Last 5 Months"

1991 William W. Fleming, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology
West Virginia University School of Medicine
"Adaptation of Myenteric Neurons to Chronic Exposure to Morphine"

1990 Elliot S. Vesell, M.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
"Causes and Consequences of Variations in Drug Response"

1989 Sydney Spector, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
"Presence of Endogenous Opiate Alkaloids in Mammalian Tissues"

1988 Joseph Larner, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
University of VirginiaInsulin
"Signaling Mechanisms: Altered Polypeptide Phosphorylation and Mediator Production"

1987 Robert F. Furchgott, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology
SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, NY
"Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation and the Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor"

1986 Philip Needleman, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Washington University School of Medicine
"Atriopeptins: Cardiac Hormones Involved in Fluid, Electrolyte, and Blood Pressure Regulation"

1984 Paul Calabresi, M.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Brown University
Director, Brown University Cancer Center
"Cancer: Crab or Chimera? The Clinical Implications of Cancer Cell Heterogeneity"

1983 Avram Goldstein, M.D.
Professor of Pharmacology
Director, Addiction Research Foundation
Stanford University
"The Dynorphin Peptins and the Kappa Opioid Receptor"

1982 Walter F. Riker, Jr., M.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Weill Medical College, Cornell University
"Reflections on Pharmacologic and Other Effects of Curare"

Past speakers

2022 Volker Haucke, Ph.D.
Professor of Molecular Pharmacology Leibniz Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), Berlin
"Lipid switches in cell physiology: From nutrient signals to disease"

2018 David R. Liu, Ph.D.
Richard Merkin Professor and Director of the Merkin Institute for Transformative Technologies in Healthcare
"Base Editing: Chemistry on a Target Nucleotide in the Genome of Living Cells"

2016 Barbara Imperiali, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology and Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Protein Glycosylation: Pathways and Processes"

2015 James A. Wells, Ph.D. 
Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
"Drug Discovery at Challenging Targets"

2013 Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Chemical Physiology
Scripps Research Institute
Benjamin Cravatt III - Wikipedia
"Activity-bases proteomics - applications for enzyme and inhibitor discovery"

2011 Laura L. Kiessling, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin
"Sending Signals from Surface: New Strategies for Stem Cell Propagation and Differentiation"

2009 John Katzenellenbogen, PH.D.
Professor of Chemistry
University of Illinois
"Estrogen Receptors: Structure, Function, and In VivoImaging of Receptor and Receptor Activity"

2008 Kevan Shokat, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice-Chair
Department of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology
University of California, San Francisco
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
"Chemical Genetic Analysis of the PI3K-mTOR Pathway"

2007 Peter Schultz, Ph.D.
Scripps Professor of Chemistry
Scripps Research Institute
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Founder of the California Institute for Biomedical Research 
Peter G. Schultz - Wikipedia
"Synthesis at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology"