Andrew Schally

Andrzej Wiktor Schally was born in Wilno in the Second Polish Republic His work also addressed birth control methods and the effects of growth hormones on the body. Together with Roger Guillemin he described the neurohormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) that controls follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), two hormones that are integral parts of reproduction and growth and development. Schally received an honoris causa doctors degree from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Recognized as a Fellow of the Kosciuszko Foundation of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry. Schally was married to Margaret Rachel White (divorced), Ana Maria de Medeiros-Comaru (widowed). He died at his home in Miami Beach, Florida on 17 October 2024, at the age of 97. ==Cancer research==

In 1981, it was demonstrated that the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonistic analogs that Schally had developed between the years of 1972 and 1978 inhibited the growth of prostate cancer in rats. Alongside Dr. George Tolis, Schally conducted the first clinical trial of GnRH for patients with advanced prostate cancer in 1982. This method is now the preferred treatment for advanced prostate carcinoma. About 70% of patients with prostate cancer receive an agonist as their primary method of treatment. According to Schally, his treatment causes fewer side effects than radiation and chemotherapy. The previous method of treatment, orchiectomy or the administration of estrogens, was based on the research of Charles Brenton Huggins. In 2004, after the death of his wife due to thyroid cancer, Schally found comfort in continuing his research. ==Awards and honors==

• Van Meter Award of the American Thyroid Association (1969) • Albert Lasker Award (1975) • Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1977) • Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1978) ==See also==