Peter Libby

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Peter Libby (born February 13, 1947 in Berkeley , California ) is an American cardiologist and cardiovascular researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School , both in Boston , Massachusetts . He is best known for research into inflammatory processes in arteriosclerosis .

Life

Libby grew up in his native Berkeley , California . As a child, he contracted poliomyelitis in 1952 , while his mother died of the disease. His father, the chemist Henry Libby, raised Peter Libby and his younger sister on their own at first before remarrying.

Libby earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and French literature from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and an MD from the University of California, San Diego in 1973 with a medical degree. He completed his training as a specialist in internal medicine (1976) at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Hospital ). In 1981 he received another specialist title in "cardiovascular medicine" (roughly cardiology ).

1980 Libby received a first professorship (assistant professor) for cardiology at Tufts University near Boston . In 1990 he received a full professorship there. In the same year Victor Dzau brought him back as head of the Department of Vascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School . In 1996 Libby was given a full professorship there, which he still holds today (as of 2016).

Since 1975 Libby has been married to Beryl Benacerraf, a daughter of the future Nobel Prize winner Baruj Benacerraf , who also holds a professorship at Harvard Medical School. The couple have two children.

Act

Libby was able to show that inflammatory processes play a central role in cardiovascular diseases . He shaped the modern understanding of arteriosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases and laid the basis for current therapeutic principles for these diseases.

Libby's research group deals with the pathophysiological fundamental mechanisms of diseases of the blood vessels , especially arteriosclerosis , on a cell biology and molecular biological level . She pursues the concept of a misdirected immunological and inflammatory defense against "injuries", including deposits of cholesterol , and investigates various messenger substances that play a role in this process. The group investigates the mechanisms of growth regulation of different cell types ( endothelium , smooth muscles ) in the vessel wall. Further work deals with the mechanisms of action of modern drugs against these diseases, which influence the cholesterol level and other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases . It is also about the discovery of new target molecules for the treatment and prevention of heart attacks , strokes and peripheral arterial occlusive disease .

Awards (selection)

literature

  • Peter Libby, William Clifford Roberts: Peter Libby, MD: A Conversation With the Editor. In: The American Journal of Cardiology. 110, 2012, p. 741, doi: 10.1016 / j.amjcard.2012.04.058 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Professor Peter Libby. In: jung-stiftung.de. Retrieved May 7, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Libby, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cardiologist and cardiovascular researcher
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Berkeley , California