Frederick Stark Professor & Head, Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota
Dr. Loh earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1965 from the University of Iowa and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacology (with Eddy Leong Way) at the University of California-San Francisco. After twenty years on the faculty at UCSF Medical Center, Dr. Loh accepted the headship in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota in 1989 and was named the Frederick and Alice Stark Professor in Neuroscience. Dr. Loh´s scientific contributions have been numerous and varied but have always focused on the fundamental aspects of opioid drug action. His research has provided fundamental knowledge about the neurochemical mechanisms of narcotic addiction and its treatment potential, the molecular nature of the opioid receptors and their gene structures, and the pharmacology and functions of endogenous opioid peptides. In recognition of his scientific achievements, Dr. Loh has received several major awards in his field, including ASPET´s Otto Krayer Award (1999), the PhRMA Foundation Award in Excellence for Basic Pharmacology (1999), and Germany´s Humboldt Award. He has actively served as a committee member for several professional scientific organizations, as chair of several NIDA study sections, and as an NIH council member for NIDA. He is the Associate Editor of both the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Current Opinions in Pharmacology, and serves on the Editorial Boards of seven other scientific journals. Throughout his career, Dr. Loh has published over 400 original research papers and has mentored approximately 100 postdoctoral fellows and 30 Ph.D. students.