Cornell University Medical College, Department of Pharmacology, Office of the Chairman (Walter F. Riker, Jr., MD) Records

WALTER F. RIKER, JR:

Dr. Walter Riker, Jr., was born on 03/08/1916 in New York City. He received his BS at Columbia University in 1939 and a MD degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1943. He spent his entire career at Cornell University Medical College. He was appointed instructor in pharmacology in 1941 and rose to professor/chairman of Department of Pharmacology in 1956. In 1970, he was also a professor of neurobiology at Cornell University Graduate School for Medical Sciences. He was awarded the endowned Revlon Pharmaceutical Professor of Pharmacology in 1979. He received the John J. Abel Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1951. He retired in 1983.

He served on several professional committees including chairman of the Board of Publications Trustees of American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 1962-? and the Board of Directors for NY State Society for Medical Reseach, 1955-? At the medical college, he served on several committeees including twenty seven years on the Executive Faculty Council, various chairmen search committees, and he headed the investigation into the CIA activities at the medical college in the 1950s. He died in 2004,

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY

The Department of Pharmacology begins its history as the Department of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 1899. This department taught second and third year students about the latest drugs and therapeutics. Clinical instruction was offered to third and fourth year students at Bellevue Hospital and later starting in 1907 at New York Hospital. Henry Loomis was the head of the department.

In 1908, the department changed its name to Department of Pharmacology and Materia Medica. Led by Robert Hatcher, this department taught medical students about the drug treatments of the day.

In 1909, the Department of Experimental Therapeutics, and Department of General Therapeutics were established. The Department of Experimental Therapeutics occupied the remodeled Loomis Laboratories. This new department, led by S. S. Beebe, focused on the problems of practical therapeutics. The new labs included work in physiology, pathology, serum pathology, and physiological chemistry. One of the research projects was the Huntington Fund for Cancer Research. This department was discontinued in 1915.

The Department of General Therapeutics, led by Frank Meara, taught applied therapeutics to medical students. Clinical instruction was offered at Bellevue Hospital. This was discontinued in 1920.

In 1910, Applied Pharmacology became a separate department and taught third year medical students. It was discontinued in 1916 or 1917.

In 1920, the Department of Pharmacology and Materia Medica, led by Robert Hatcher, changed its name to the Department of Pharmacology. In 1932, the department continued under Dr. Hatcher leadership at the new medical center. Dr. Hatcher came to the medical college in 1904 as an instructor in pharmacology and took over as head of the Department of Pharmacology and Materia Medica in 1908. Dr. Hatcher introduced experimental pharmacology to the medical college. He was interested in digitalis research.

Under Dr. Hatcher's leadership, Dr. Harry Gold joined the faculty in 1922. Dr. Gold was a well renowned clinical pharmacologist. His most notable research was digitalis drugs and the double blind studies.

Dr. McKeen Cattell succeeded as the chairman of the department in 1936. He was interested in the physiology of muscles and collaborated with Dr. Gold on the digitalis studies. The faculty of the department grew under his leadership.

Dr. Walter Riker, Jr., who came to the medical college as a student, succeeded as the chairman of the department in 1956. Under his leadership, a pre and post doctorial training program was developed. The department had an active research program. He retired in 1983.

He was succeeded by Walter Chan who served as acting chairman until 1991 when the current chairman, Lorraine Gudas, took over the chairmanship.

This collection has materials on some of the research and writings of the pharmacology faculty at the medical college who made contributions to the field of pharmacology including: McKeen Cattell, Oscar Bodansky, W. Clarke Wescoe, Carlton Hunt, Maynard Chenoweth, Solomon Garb, Frank Ferguson, Jay Roberts, Albert Kuperman, Gerhard Werner, Walter Modell, Frank Standaert, Michiko Okamoto among others.