12 Facts About Paul Zamecnik

Paul Charles Zamecnik was an American scientist who played a central role in the early history of molecular biology.

Paul Zamecnik was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Paul Zamecnik was born in Cleveland, Ohio to John Charles Zamecnik and Mary Gertrude Mccarthy.

Paul Zamecnik attended Dartmouth College, majored in chemistry and zoology, and received his AB degree in 1933.

Paul Zamecnik then attended Harvard Medical School and received his MD degree in 1936.

Paul Zamecnik was awarded a Finney-Howell Fellowship and a Moseley Traveling Fellowship to go to the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen where he worked with Dr Kai Linderstrom-Lang.

Paul Zamecnik returned to Boston where he became an assistant physician at the Huntington Memorial Hospital, studying the toxic factors involved in traumatic shock for a wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development project led by Huntington director Joseph Charles Aub.

Paul Zamecnik is generally regarded as the founder of antisense therapy.

Paul Zamecnik won many distinguished awards, including the National Cancer Society National Award in 1968, National Medal of Science in 1991, and the first-ever Lasker Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.

Paul Zamecnik was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Society of Biological Chemistry, American Association for Cancer Research, Association of American Physicians, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the American Philosophical Society.

Paul Zamecnik married Mary Connor in 1936, and together they had three children.

Paul Zamecnik died on October 27,2009, at his home in Boston.