Darwin Prockop
{{Short description|American biochemist (1929–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
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| name = Darwin Prockop
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|8|31}}
| birth_place = Palmerton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|01|22|1929|8|31}}
| death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| fields = Biochemistry
| workplaces = Texas A&M Health Science Center
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| known_for = Mesenchymal stem cell research
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Darwin Prockop (August 31, 1929 – January 22, 2024) was an American biochemist and progenitor cell researcher. He held academic posts at several universities, and joined the faculty at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in 2008. Prockop was elected to several academic societies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
Biography
Prockop completed an undergraduate degree from Haverford College and a master's degree in animal physiology from Brasenose College, Oxford. He earned a medical degree (1956) from University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in biochemistry (1961) from George Washington University.
He was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Jefferson Medical College, and Tulane University. At Tulane, he directed the Center for Gene Therapy. In 2008, he came to the Texas A&M Health Science Center, where he was Professor of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and the Stearman Chair in Genomic Medicine. He also served as Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple.
Prockop died January 22, 2024.{{Cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/darwin-prockop-obituary?id=54225303 |title=Darwin Prockop |website=Legacy.com |date=January 28, 2024 |access-date=February 6, 2024}}
Research
Prockop's research as a biochemist has focused on collagen and connective tissue diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta and Marfan syndrome. In 2001, he organized the first scientific meeting focused on mesenchymal stem cells. Stem cell researcher Massimo Dominici said that "the cell therapy landscape would look completely different without his involvement."{{cite web|title=ISCT awards career achievement prize to Dr. Darwin J. Prockop - ISCT|url=http://www.celltherapysociety.org/news/281771/ISCT-awards-career-achievement-prize-to-Dr.-Darwin-J.-Prockop.htm|publisher=International Society for Cellular Therapy|accessdate=June 28, 2016|date=March 29, 2016}}
Honors and awards
In 1991, Prockop was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The following year he was elected to the Institute of Medicine.{{cite web|title=Darwin Prockop|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/59504.html|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|accessdate=June 28, 2016}}{{cite web|title=Darwin Prockop : Health and Medicine Division|url=http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Global/Directory/Detail.aspx?id=0000059504|publisher=National Academy of Medicine|accessdate=June 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822071229/http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Global/Directory/Detail.aspx?id=0000059504|archive-date=August 22, 2016|url-status=dead}} In 1994, he received a Distinguished Graduate Award from the Perelman School of Medicine.{{cite web|title=Distinguished Graduate Award Recipients|url=http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/psom/index.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&sitebuilder=1&pgid=6621|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|accessdate=June 28, 2016}}
References
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Category:Haverford College alumni
Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Category:George Washington University alumni
Category:Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni
Category:Texas A&M University faculty
Category:Tulane University faculty
Category:Jefferson Medical College faculty
Category:Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty
Category:University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey faculty
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences